Multiple counties reported voting system problems, among other issues, on Nov. 3, the day of the midterm elections.
Problems cropped up in counties in five states, including New York and North Carolina.
Georgia officials also said on Nov. 3 that they were working to correct an issue that occurred during early voting.
Westchester County, NY
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said in a video statement that there was a countywide issue “where the ballot is not going through the scanner.”
For now, officials said, ballots are being placed in emergency bags that will be secured and monitored until they can be scanned.
Jenkins called what happened a debacle and said he would convene a bipartisan team to thoroughly review the decisions that led to it.
The New York State Board of Elections said in a statement that the issue stemmed from an update to election programming that happened after initial preparation and testing of voting equipment.
“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 stated.
“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.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a post on X that her office is monitoring the issue.
“Westchester voters can still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling locations,” she said. “Your votes will count.”
North Carolina Counties
At least four counties in North Carolina suffered from minor delays, election officials said.
The delays stemmed from “various technical issues,” Sam Hayes, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in prepared remarks at a briefing.
Parker Holland, deputy director for election administration of the state board, said the issues were resolved.
The state board is meeting in the afternoon to consider extending polling hours in Gates, Hertford, Lenoir, and Wilson counties.
“During every election, minor disruptions arise, such as power outages, tabulator issues, printer jams, longer lines than previously anticipated,” Hayes said.
“These are not indications of malicious activity, and the processes are in place to respond to each scenario.”
Hayes also said officials are looking at reported issues in four additional counties.
Pennsylvania Counties
Several counties in Pennsylvania reported issues on Election Day.
Franklin County officials said a machine was not working properly, prompting officials to direct voters to wait or return later in the day.
The issue was fixed within a few minutes, WGAL-TV reported.
Cambria County officials said in a statement that there were parking problems at several locations and another polling location that did not receive a complete poll book.
The issues were being resolved, they said.
Ohio Counties
Voting machines were down at a polling site in Lucas County, Ohio, WTOL-TV reported.
That resulted in people needing to use paper ballots, which some voters said they distrust.
The Lucas County Board of Elections did not return a request for comment.
In Wood County, other issues involving voters seeing filled-out ballots on machines when they went to vote have been fixed, according to WTOL-TV.
Broward County
Technical issues delayed voting on the morning of Nov. 2 in Broward County, Florida, local media outlets reported.
Problems cropped up at several locations, including Sunset Lakes Community Center and Coconut Palm Elementary School, according to WPLG-TV.
WSVN reported a systemwide issue that affected polls for between 10 and 15 minutes, but polls have since been running smoothly, the broadcaster reported.
The Broward County Supervisor of Elections did not respond to a request for comment.
Fulton County
In Fulton County, Georgia, which covers most of Atlanta, officials said on Nov. 3 that two scanners failed during early voting.
A scanner at the Mechanicsville Library stopped working properly on Oct. 21 when a voter in a wheelchair rolled over its power cable, Nadine Williams, the county’s director of elections, said in a memorandum obtained by The Epoch Times.
Employees of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections process ballots in Atlanta on Nov. 4, 2020. (Brandon Bell/Reuters)
The difficulties affected about 1,069 ballots, it stated.
Staffers advised that the memory cards from the first scanner should not be uploaded because the data may be corrupted, so all ballots will be scanned on a separate scanner, Williams said.
The memo states that the memory cards from the recreation center scanner should be transferred to a different scanner on election night.
Williams plans to meet with the county elections board later on Nov. 3 to discuss the issues.
