The Republican National Committee’s Election Integrity team responded to a series of polling-place problems on Tuesday, including scanner failures in New York and a reported case in Northern Virginia where a voter was told his ballot had already been submitted.
In Westchester County, voters were asked to fill out paper ballots and place them in orange emergency bags after scanners began rejecting ballots shortly after polls opened at 6 a.m., CBS New York reported.
County Executive Ken Jenkins attributed the problem to ballots printed in a format the machines could not read. The state Board of Elections, however, said a change to a local contest had been made after the county’s equipment was tested. Jenkins said a bipartisan team would investigate.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican whose district includes much of northern Westchester, said all the county’s scanners were affected. It was not yet clear whether the ballots or the machines were at fault.
“Every ballot will be counted. Stay on line and vote. Do not leave the polling place without voting,” Lawler said.
The RNC said it sent additional observers to Westchester. Republicans and Democrats were also seeking a joint court order to have ballots counted at the County Board of Elections rather than at individual polling places.
Lawler is facing Democrat Cait Conley in New York’s 17th District, a closely watched race. The district includes most of northern Westchester.
The New York State Board of Elections said established emergency procedures were in place, with completed ballots secured under bipartisan oversight and set to be counted.
The RNC also reported resolving a problem in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. In one precinct, a voter said the ballot box that should have been attached to a scanner was missing. The voter’s ballot was placed in a holding box and, the voter said, officials promised it would be scanned once the proper box arrived.
About two hours after the issue was raised publicly, the RNC said it had contacted the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections and that the problem was fixed.
The Department of Justice said it would send election monitors to Luzerne County as part of an effort to monitor voting in all 50 states. Westchester and Georgia’s Fulton County were also on its list, along with Fairfax and Prince William Counties in Northern Virginia.
The RNC said it was sending additional observers to monitor the counting of ballots affected by scanner problems.
In Ohio, Beverly Elementary School was closed as a polling place after a bomb threat. The RNC said the school reopened for voting following its intervention.
In Northern Virginia, Kaylee McGhee White said she and her husband checked in at their polling place and were told that a mail-in ballot had already been submitted for him. She said poll workers later told her husband the mail ballot had to be canceled before he could vote in person.
“I cannot overstate how important it is to show up today. This would not have been caught if we had not gone in person,” McGhee White wrote.
She said she had no way to confirm the mail ballot was canceled, but that her husband was ultimately able to cast a ballot in person. She also said the RNC’s Election Integrity team contacted him within five minutes of her initial complaint.
The RNC said it would continue working to address voting problems and urged voters to report issues. The Justice Department and the RNC team had not immediately responded to requests for comment.
