Emergency Edition Westchester County, N.Y. Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 · Late
Midterm Edition
NY-17 · Election Day
Record at close of day
Protesters holding Election Day signs
Countywide scanner failure NY-17 · Election Day
Insurrection, Midterm Edition

Westchester County's Magical Boxes and Paper Miracles

Every ballot scanner in the county failed at 6 a.m. Four explanations followed. The county and the state agree on none of them.

Play: Red Light, Green Light
01 — The record
6:00
a.m. · Polls open
6:00
a.m. · Scanners stop accepting ballots
Not some scanners. Every one.
“There is a problem with every ballot scanner in Westchester County.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R), NY-17 · via Fox News

The 17th District is one of the closest House races in the country. It includes most of northern Westchester. On the one day that counts, in that county, the counting machines did not count.

Illustration: poll workers wheel bins of paper ballots past a line of voters
02 — Four explanations in one day

The story changed. The scanners didn't.

1
County Board of Elections · Patch
“Thickness of paper ballots”
Cause: the paper
2
Revised statement · Daily Voice
“An issue involving paper ballots”
“Thickness” deleted
3
County Exec. Ken Jenkins · CBS NY
A printer made ballots unreadable
Cause: the printer
4
NY State Board of Elections · CBS NY
Not the paper. Not the vendor. Not the machine.
Cause: none given
Then what?

Nobody has said. At the close of Election Day: a countywide failure and no explanation that the county and the state agree on.

Illustration: ballots jam a scanner with a red warning light
03 — The test that exists for this

There is a signed record.

9 NYCRR 6210.2“Testing of all voting systems shall be conducted by the county board before the use of the system in any election.” Results, “including the final errorless test, shall be certified as accurate by the county board commissioners or their designees.”

U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSIONTest ballots after printing. “Paper stock that is of the wrong weight or grain direction may cause ballot scanners to jam.” Pull test ballots “from the top, middle, and bottom” of the stack.

The record can read only three ways
Tested Election Day ballots →
Failed
Someone knew before 6 a.m. Voters found out from the scanners.
Tested Election Day ballots →
Passed
Something changed between the test and the polls. Who changed it?
Tested other ballots →
Wrong stack
The certified test did not test the ballots voters got.
Every branch ends at the Board.
One Democratic commissioner. One Republican commissioner. State law requires both. They, or their designees, certify the testing. Either can ask for it to be released.
04 — The magical boxes

The running count went dark.

A working scanner keeps a running count at the polling place, all day, ballot by ballot. That number is a check on ballots being added or removed later. For most of today, that check did not exist. Ballots went into emergency bags.

What is left: the poll book, where every voter signed in. And custody of the bags until they are opened.

Illustration: poll workers reach into a yellow bin of ballots
The test anyone can runPer polling place
A
Ballots in emergency bags
+
B
Ballots through any scanner that worked
=
C
Signatures in the poll book
Not close. Match. “Every vote will be counted” is a promise. The poll book is how to check it.
05 — Paper miracles and the clock

An investigation has no deadline. An election does.

Every voter marked a paper ballot. Paper can be counted again. The question is when.

Nov. 3
Election Day
Scanners fail. Ballots go into bags.
Within 15 days
3% audit
State law: audit paper records from 3% of voting machines.
Deadline
Certification
The records come out before this, or they do not matter.
Then
Sworn in
The House becomes the judge of its own members' elections.
County's bipartisan investigation ······················ no deadline → We will know. It will be too late.
06 — Release before certification

Four records.

01
Pre-election test records
Certified. Which ballots went through the scanners, and when.
02
Print orders
Who printed the Election Day ballots, when, on what stock, and whether anything changed after testing.
03
Reconciliation
Bag counts against poll book signatures, polling place by polling place, signed by inspectors from both parties.
04
Chain of custody
Who held each bag, from the polling place to the count.

A board that did its job loses nothing by releasing these. A board that will not release them has told us something.

Interactive

Red Light, Green Light
Westchester County Edition

Hold to walk your ballot to the scanner. Green: move. Red: freeze. Move on red and you go to the back of the line. Space bar works too.
{{ lightWord }}
{{ lightLabel }}
Clock {{ clock }} Sent to back of line {{ outs }}
LINE · 6:00 A.M.
SCANNER
Polls close at 9:00 p.m.
Moved on red.
Back of the line. The clock did not stop.
Scanner message · {{ clock }}Sent back {{ outs }}×
Ballot not accepted.
You made it. The scanner did not. Your ballot goes into an emergency bag. No running count. What it is counted against now: the poll book and the chain of custody.
Illustration: poll workers struggle with scanners in a crowded hall
“Every vote will be counted.”
Counted against what?