Westchester scanners reject ballots countywide; AG's office steps in

Voting machines in Westchester County, New York, are refusing to accept paper ballots on Election Day, and the state attorney general's office says it is monitoring.

According to NBC New York's live coverage, reports came in from New Rochelle, North Salem and Ossining. At St. Paul's Church in Ossining, voters said the machines rejected every ballot. Those ballots were placed in a bag for later counting.

The county Board of Elections first blamed "the thickness of paper ballots." Less than an hour later it issued a corrected statement with the word "thickness" removed. The corrected version says the board "is aware of an issue involving paper ballots that is preventing voting machines from accepting ballots" at polling sites countywide.

Voters are being told to keep filling out ballots. They go into "designated orange emergency ballot bags, which will remain secure and monitored" and will be counted under applicable procedures. The board says "Every eligible vote will be counted" and is urging people to stay in line.

Attorney General Letitia James's office is in contact with state and local election boards. It said voters can still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling places.

NBC New York's report did not say how many sites are affected or when the problems began. It reported no lawsuit or court action.

Our take: Nothing reported so far shows anything beyond an equipment failure, and we are not claiming otherwise. But a county-wide scanner failure on the busiest voting day in years, plus an explanation that changed within the hour, deserves hard questions. What actually failed? Who tested the machines and ballots together before today? And what is the chain of custody for ballots sitting in emergency bags? Officials should answer all three in public before the counting starts.