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A highly contentious New York State race under watch by the entire nation has been plunged into chaos over voting ballot “thickness” — an issue that could mean the winner won’t be known for days.
Ballot machines were rejecting the paper ballots throughout Westchester County Tuesday morning, which will affect the vote count in the battle for New York’s 17th congressional district between incumbent Rep. Mike Lawler and Democrat insurgent Cait Conley.
The county Board of Elections initially said the paper “thickness” was causing the machines to spit the votes back out, only to revise the alert to remove that language.
“The Westchester County (BOE) is aware of an issue involving the thickness of paper ballots that is preventing voting machines from accepting ballots at polling locations throughout the County,” the initial statement read.
“The Westchester (BOE) wants to reassure every voter that your vote matters, your ballot will be secure and your vote will be counted.”
The BOE said the ballots will be placed in designated orange emergency ballot bags, but how they will be counted is still yet to be determined.
The ballots could be counted by hand if the machines cannot be fixed, which would significantly delay the final count.
An upper sliver of Westchester is involved in the highly contentious NY-17 race, one of the Empire State’s last remaining swing districts, with Conley predicted to win in that highly Democratic portion of the district.
The district also includes all of Putnam and Rockland counties and part of Dutchess County.
