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Westchester Scanner Problems Disrupt Voting as Paper Ballots Are Collected

Election officials say voters can still complete and submit paper ballots while technicians address scanner problems.

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Voting continues despite scanner problems

Reporting current as of 8:42 a.m. Eastern on November 3, 2026.

Ballot scanners at many polling places in Westchester County, New York, were not accepting ballots Tuesday morning, but election officials said voters could still fill out and turn in paper ballots.

CBS New York reported, citing County Executive Ken Jenkins, that scanners were affected at most polling sites after polls opened at 6 a.m. The county and state election boards were working on the problem, the outlet reported.

News 12 reported that poll workers were checking voters in and collecting paper ballots in orange emergency bags while technicians worked. The news outlet, citing the county Board of Elections, said the ballots would go to the board for counting.

In a statement published by the county, the Board of Elections said an issue involving paper ballots was preventing machines from accepting them. It did not specify the technical cause or give a repair time. The board said the designated emergency bags would be monitored and their contents counted under election procedures.

The exact number of affected sites and when the issue would be resolved were not established in the latest reporting Newstro reviewed. A scanner problem does not by itself establish that votes were lost or that anyone interfered with the election.

What voters should know

New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was in contact with state and local election boards and that Westchester voters could fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling places. Her post responded to a News 12 report.

At an affected location, follow the poll workers’ instructions for completing and submitting a ballot. If you have checked in or have questions about your ballot, ask a poll worker or the county Board of Elections before leaving.

Westchester voters can look up their assigned Election Day location using the county’s polling-place finder or call the county elections office at 914-995-5700. The New York attorney general’s voting resources say Election Day polls are scheduled to be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.; its election hotline is 866-390-2992.

Reports from several communities

News 12 said it received reports of problems in Montrose, Yonkers and White Plains, including a poll worker’s account from a Yonkers site. Those accounts illustrate several affected communities; they do not establish that every scanner or every site was affected.

Westchester County is directly north of New York City. The star below marks its approximate geographic center, not an individual polling location.

Schematic locator of Westchester County north of New York City; star marks the approximate county center, not a polling site.
Approximate locator, not a road or polling-site map. County center: USGS GNIS; White Plains: Getty TGN; Yonkers: OpenStreetMap contributors via Mapcarta, ODbL. Boundaries are not shown.

What was reported

Times are Eastern on November 3.

  1. Polls opened; scanner problems began as voting got underway, CBS New York reported.
  2. News 12 published an early report that voting continued and paper ballots were being collected in bags.
  3. Attorney General James posted that her office was monitoring the scanner problem and that voters could still turn in ballots.
  4. CBS New York’s updated report said most Westchester polling sites had experienced scanner problems and no repair time had been announced.
  5. The county published an election-board statement describing an issue involving paper ballots and advising voters to follow poll workers’ instructions.

The election board’s statement

In a statement shared by the county, the election board told voters to follow poll workers’ instructions and said emergency ballot bags would be monitored. James’s office separately said it was monitoring the issue.

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Sources and visual credits

Westchester election board statement · CBS New York · News 12 · New York attorney general on X · New York attorney general voting resources · Westchester polling-place finder.

Hero and thumbnail: generated conceptual paper-cut illustration, not an image of a real ballot, scanner or polling site. Locator sources are listed with the map.