Ballot-counting machines malfunction in Queens
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Ballot-counting machines throughout Queens malfunctioned Tuesday morning, prompting the Board of Elections to inspect all 290 polling sites in the borough. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Jacob Kaye
Tensions were high and lines were long at poll sites across Queens as ballot-scanning machines spit out ballots back at people hoping to cast their vote in Tuesday’s election.
Ballot-scanning machines from Douglaston to Astoria appeared to malfunction throughout the morning as poll site managers struggled to keep up with the demand from frustrated voters.
Some voters told the Eagle they had to run their two-page ballot through a machine nearly two dozen times until it finally displayed a message indicating that their vote had been counted. Others said they were asked by poll site workers to place their ballots into a drop box and trust that their ballots would be counted later in the day.
As long lines formed at sites as a result of the finicky machines, some poll site workers encouraged voters to come back to cast their vote later in the day but wouldn’t promise that the issue would be resolved by then.
Some poll site managers speculated that the scanners were not properly calibrated to the size of the ballots, while others said they thought the issues were a result of a bad Wi-Fi connection.
While the Board of Elections attempted to assure voters that “any ballot cast will be counted,” they did not specify what exactly was causing the machines to malfunction or why it was specific to Queens.
“Earlier today, we were notified that scanners in some Queens poll sites required multiple attempts to scan a ballot,” the BOE said in a statement. “Technicians were immediately dispatched, and corrective measures were undertaken. In an abundance of caution, we had all 290 sites in Queens inspected.”
“Voters are voting and have been voting all day,” the statement continued. “Voters have not been impacted beyond additional attempts to scan their ballots or have it placed in the emergency bin as is protocol.”
Judy Ausuebel, a voter in Forest Hills, said she waited to cast her ballot for over an hour at P.S. 303.
Initially, Ausuebel was told she’d have to leave her ballot in a drop box but by the time she made it to the front of the line, she was directed to a scanner. After putting the ballot through several times, the machine appeared to have counted her vote.
“I asked the poll worker [if my vote had been counted] and her answer to me was, ‘If the clock [icon] goes around that means that the ballot was counted,’” Ausuebel said.
But after witnessing for an hour the fussiness of the machines, Ausuebel said she was “not really” satisfied with the poll worker’s assurances.
Melanie La Rocca, the former commissioner of the city’s Department of Buildings, saw similar issues at her Queens poll site.
While La Rocca said the issue was little more than an inconvenience, she added that it is “not a good visual, nor is it good practice that we have issues with voting.”
“This should be as frictionless as humanly possible,” she said.
Aggravation over the machines was perhaps highest at P.S. 164 in Kew Gardens Hills. There, around 20 ballots were put aside after being rejected by the scanners. Accusations that the ballots were going to be voided began to circulate.
While one poll site worker told the Eagle that the ballots would not be counted, a representative from the BOE as well as the area’s local state assemblymember, Sam Berger, who was at the site, disputed the claim.
Nonetheless, Berger noted that the confusion was troubling.
“There needs to be accountability here, no one should ever have to worry if their votes are being counted,” he said.
Around noon, all scanners at P.S. 164 appeared to be working properly.
Calvin Christopher, a voter who encountered easy goings at the site, said that while the scanner issue sounded frustrating, he wasn’t concerned that it would have any impact on the election.
“Machines break and things happen,” he said.
Additional reporting by Ryan Schwach
