Midterm Election Day 2026 kicked off with a bang in Westchester County, New York, and not the good kind. Ballot scanners at polling places across the county started rejecting voters’ ballots almost immediately after polls opened at 6 AM, triggering a system-wide malfunction that county officials had to publicly acknowledge before most people had finished their morning coffee.
This isn’t some tiny town with two precincts and a volunteer running things out of a broom closet. Westchester sits just north of New York City, has about a million residents, and is home to competitive congressional races that could affect who controls the House. You’d think a county this wealthy, with a political establishment this comfortable spending taxpayer money, could keep the scanners running for one morning. Apparently not.
County Executive Ken Jenkins confirmed that voting machines at numerous polling places were rejecting ballots, and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), fighting for his reelection in the district, quickly sounded the alarm. Westchester County ballot scanner malfunction “There is a problem with every ballot scanner in Westchester County,” Lawler wrote, adding that the Board of Elections was working with vendors to figure out whether the problem was with the ballots themselves or the machines. His most important line, though, was a direct message to voters: “Do not leave the polling place without voting.”
The RNC’s election integrity operation was already on the ground, deploying extra observers and telling Westchester voters they could still cast paper ballots. Election workers in communities including Yonkers, White Plains, and Montrose were instructed to keep checking voters in, hand out paper ballots, and secure those ballots in designated orange bags for later counting. The New York State Board of Elections launched an investigation while technicians worked to get the scanners back online.
Officials are adamant that no votes were lost and that the paper ballots will be counted. That’s good. But voters shouldn’t have to show up on the one day that matters most and wonder whether the equipment is going to function like it’s supposed to. That’s a pretty low bar, and somehow we keep tripping over it.
Westchester wasn’t even the only jurisdiction with problems. On Monday, Maricopa County, Arizona, had to temporarily close two vote centers, Paradise Valley Community College and Sunset Canyon School, due to power-related issues. Both eventually reopened, but voters who showed up during the closure had to find another location or come back later. Republican activist Scott Presler pointed to exactly that scenario as the reason he pushes early voting. “So, when people attack me for pushing early voting, this is exactly what I’m talking about,” Presler wrote in response to the Maricopa news. Hard to argue with that.
Donald Trump lost Westchester by roughly 26 points in 2024, though Republicans did improve their share compared to 2020. In a cycle where a handful of House seats could flip the balance of power in Congress, breakdowns like this one are a reminder of just how patchwork and unreliable America’s election infrastructure remains. If you’re in Westchester and the scanner won’t take your ballot, ask a poll worker for an emergency paper ballot and make sure it gets into the right hands before you walk out the door.
The New York State Board of Elections is investigating, technicians are working, and Lawler is watching. Democrats who run this county have had plenty of time and plenty of tax dollars to get this right. Maybe next election cycle they’ll spend a little less time lecturing everyone about democracy and a little more time making sure the voting machines actually work.
