Officials in Westchester County, New York, which includes part of the closely contested 17th Congressional District, reported problems with ballot scanners Tuesday morning.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler is facing a competitive challenge from Democratic candidate Cait Conley in the district.
The New York State Board of Elections attributed the scanner problems to a late programming change made 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.”
Voting continued through established emergency ballot procedures, the board said. Completed ballots were being securely held under bipartisan oversight and will be scanned and counted according to standard procedures.
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The board emphasized that “every valid vote will be counted.”
Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Lawler said Democrats and Republicans were working together to address the problem.
“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.
Lawler and Conley both urged voters to remain in line and cast their ballots.
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