Barcode Error in New York Causes Scanners to Reject Ballots in Key House Race

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Westchester County Executive Kenneth Jenkins said on Tuesday the voting machines in Westchester County, New York, are not accepting ballots because of a barcode printing issue on Election Day ballots.

Jenkins said the Board of Elections is currently working to update the software on at least one scanner per site to allow voters to submit their votes on site.

Westchester County is a critical battleground to determine who will represent lower Hudson in New York’s 17th district, with incumbent Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) currently in a close race with Democratic candidate Cait Conley.

Westchester County has 332 polling sites with more than 57,000 votes already cast on Election Day. The county is using its emergency ballot process to place those ballots in orange bags to be counted after voting polls close. One of the 44 municipalities in Westchester County did not have this error, and voting proceeded as normal, but Jenkins would not reveal which municipality it was.

Whether counting will take place on site or at a central location after voting concludes has not been decided. Transfer of ballots from polling stations to a central location would require police escort, and the county executive indicated that would be a logistical headache.

He said the early voting process is completely separate, with ballots printed at the polling site and an entirely different set of scanning machines. In New York state, ballots printed for Election Day voting are pre-printed by a vendor.

The special scanner at each polling place is designed to be handicap accessible.

Jenkins expects emergency ballots stored in orange bags to be scanned in the evening and does not anticipate vote counting to drag on for weeks.

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information is available.