Officials in New York’s Westchester County, which includes part of the competitive 17th District, reported issues with ballot scanners Tuesday morning.
GOP Rep. Mike Lawler is in a tough race against Democratic candidate Cait Conley in the district.
The New York State Board of Elections said the problems with the machines were the result of a late programming change in one municipality.
“A change affecting a contest in one municipality required updated election programming, which was subsequently tested and deployed for early voting and for Election Day machines in that municipality,” the board said in a statement. “However, Election Day machines elsewhere in the county continued to use the original programming and therefore could not recognize and accept the ballots being used for Election Day.”
“In the meantime, voting continues through established emergency ballot procedures,” the board said. “Completed ballots are securely maintained under bipartisan oversight and will be scanned and counted in accordance with established procedures.”
The board added that “every valid vote will be counted.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Lawler told reporters that Democrats and Republicans were working together to resolve the issue.
“We’ve been working in a bipartisan way, Republicans and Democrats, both campaigns, both state parties, both national committees, to come to a solution working with the Westchester County Board of Elections and the State Board of Elections,” he said.
Both Lawler and Conley urged voters to stay in line and vote.
