FORT EDWARD, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The Washington County Board of Elections Poll inspection staff reported there were issues with ballots at certain districts and certain poll locations where they were not scanning correctly into the election machines on Tuesday. Those ballots, per procedure, went into an emergency ballot hold and are secured to be reviewed later by Democrat and Republican representatives of the Board of Elections.
The Washington County Board of Elections Commissioners have been communicating with personnel from the New York State Board of Elections throughout the day, giving updates and receiving guidance throughout the process. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has also been in contact with the Board of Elections to solidify the retrieval and transport of all ballots cast at every poll site in Washington County back to the Board of Elections after the election later Tuesday evening to be counted accordingly.
Washington County residents who voted on ballots that were not able to be
scanned and read by the machine should know and understand that their ballots were
secured at the time by the Poll Inspection staff members and will be counted in accordance
with New York State Election Law. This is the latest update from the Washington County Board of Elections.
Elise Stefanik and Matt Castelli have both released statements regarding the malfunction. Stefanik said, “The Elise for Congress campaign has been notified of serious election integrity issues in certain polling locations in Washington County. The Washington County Board of Elections had an error in printing ballots for certain polling locations in election districts in Argyle, Cambridge, Dresden, Easton, Fort Ann, Granville, and Fort Edward. Voters who cast ballots at these locations this morning were directed to place ballots that are not being read by the machine into the emergency lockbox. The Elise for Congress campaign is working directly with the Republican National Committee and is exploring all legal options to ensure every legal vote, and only legal votes, are accurately and lawfully counted. Election integrity, rule of law, and transparency are of the utmost importance in our elections and our campaign is working diligently to obverse and ensure the security of such ballots. Washington County has assured us that they are printing new ballots and are delivering or have delivered them to the election districts to address this issue. We need every voter to turn out and vote. We continue to encourage any voter who observes any irregularities at their polling location to contact the New York Election integrity Hotline: 518-851-8007.”
On the same note, Castelli said, “Shame on Congresswoman Stefanik for seeking to manufacture controversy and stoke fear about the integrity of our elections. Her fearmongering has the potential to make election workers from both parties – her own constituents – targets of potential violence. I am grateful to the hardworking poll workers in Washington County who caught and corrected the technical issue that prevented ballots from being read by machines early this morning and who followed the required and trusted protocols to correct this issue. Any ballots that could not be read by machine have been transitioned to a lock box and will all be safely handled manually; it is important for Washington County voters to know that every vote will be counted. Congresswoman Stefanik is trying to scare voters because she thinks it will help her win, but NY-21 voters have had enough of her lies and tonight, they will make it clear when they defeat her at the ballot box.”
