Westchester Voting Machine Crash Now Attributed To Programming Update

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — The issue affecting voting machines throughout Westchester County resulted from an update to the county's election programming that occurred after the initial preparation and testing of Election Day voting equipment, according to the New York State Board of Elections.

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Election officials in Westchester previously blamed the technical issues on paper ballots being too thick for the machines to accept, and later a printing error on the ballots themselves.

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However, according to state election officials, a late programing update caused the system to crash.

"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 New York State Board of Elections said in an Election Day 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."

State election officials stressed that established protocols will ensure that every vote is counted — though some delays in tallying the ballots is expected.

"The New York State Board of Elections is working closely with the Westchester County Board of Elections to deploy replacement election media using the updated programming previously tested for early voting, which encompasses all contests throughout the county," the NYS BOE said. "The immediate priority is to restore scanning capability to at least one voting machine at every polling location,
with additional machines being brought online as the day progresses."

State election officials explained that these procedures are used, though in smaller numbers, in almost every election cycle.

"In the meantime, voting continues through established emergency ballot procedures," state elections officials said. "Completed ballots are securely maintained under bipartisan oversight and will be scanned and counted in accordance with established procedures. Restoring scanning capability will also allow emergency ballots cast earlier in the day to be processed as part of the established counting process ... Every valid vote will be counted, and the established canvass, recanvass, and post-election audit procedures will remain in place. Accuracy will never be sacrificed for speed."