Read the post as text
Democrats are already trying to steal the election in New York today. What are the odds the ballot machines in Westchester County aren't working? Democrats only know how to cheat.
Elections
Election Day failures were real. The cheating claims are wrong.
Scanners failed in Westchester and check-ins froze in Broward. Posts called it Democrats cheating. Here's what happened, and who it slowed down.
Update,
Westchester's bagged ballots were held overnight under police guard. The board says a consent decree ordered by state Supreme Court Justice Paul Marx sets how they are handled, and it scheduled the count for 11 a.m. the next morning, Nov. 429,30. Douglas Colety, the board's Republican commissioner, said there was "nothing nefarious going on here other than machine or ballot malfunction"30. The board hasn't said how many ballots were bagged, and no official has said who made the late programming change. Our verdicts are unchanged.
The bottom line
- WrongWestchester: Democrats stealing
- WrongBroward: a Democratic fraud trick
- MisleadingElection Day voters 2-to-1 GOP
Both failures were real. Westchester's Election Day scanners couldn't read ballots after a late programming update, and Broward's check-ins froze for about 20 minutes. Nothing shows intent. Westchester's ballots are bagged under bipartisan control, and the Republican incumbent says it doesn't appear intentional. Both places lean Democratic, so the failures most likely slowed more Democrats than Republicans.
The claims
What the post says or clearly implies, checked one by one. How verdicts work
1
Broken ballot machines in Westchester County show Democrats trying to steal the election in New York.
WrongThe state blames a late programming update. The ballots are bagged under bipartisan control, and the Republican in the race says it doesn't appear intentional.
Scanners across the county rejected ballots when polls opened at 6 a.m.1. The county first blamed paper thickness, then dropped that2. By afternoon the state Board of Elections traced it to "an update to the county's election programming that occurred after the initial preparation and testing of Election Day voting equipment"3. Election Day scanners still had the old programming, so they rejected ballots rather than miscounting them1,4. County Executive Ken Jenkins put the number at up to 250,000 ballots, a figure the board hadn't confirmed5.
New York requires both parties to share every board that counts votes6. Westchester's has a Democratic and a Republican commissioner7. Rejected ballots go into emergency bags, and the law has a bipartisan team scan them later8,9.
Rep. Mike Lawler, the Republican incumbent, said the error appeared not to be "intentional." The bags go to the board under police escort, with lawyers for both campaigns present5. Westchester voted for Harris by 26 points, and it was the only county in his district Lawler lost in 20245.
2
Broward's machines "accidentally" shut down as a Democratic election fraud trick.
WrongA ballot-check feature stalled check-ins for about 20 minutes. No votes already cast were affected. The county's Election Day voters lean Democratic.
Broward added a step this year so poll workers could confirm each voter got the right ballot after redistricting, and it worked in the August primary. On Tuesday it failed at opening. Supervisor Joe Scott said it was fixed "within 20 minutes" and "did not affect any votes cast"10. Some voters left, and nobody knows how many left or came back10,3.
Scott ran as a Democrat11. Florida's elections chief, Secretary of State Cord Byrd, was appointed by Gov. DeSantis12. Byrd said voting was going smoothly and the glitch moved Broward to checking voters in by hand3. Republican Party observers said the issue was resolved13.
The post @DC_Draino quoted was about Broward's online vote totals, which some users couldn't load at first before the figures appeared14,3. Loomer called it "ballot counting issues"15. It was check-in, not counting.
3
Republicans outnumber Democrats 2 to 1 among Election Day voters.
MisleadingRoughly true across Florida among party members, as in the 2022 midterm. In Broward, where the glitch happened, Democrats outnumber Republicans on Election Day.
@DC_Draino said Democrats shut machines down "b/c they know it's 2 to 1 Republicans voting"14. As of 3:06 p.m., Florida's Election Day voters included 855,828 Republicans and 444,471 Democrats, about 1.9 to 1, by our calculation from a compilation of state and county data16. The 2022 midterm ended at the same ratio17. Republicans were about half of all Election Day voters, since independents and minor parties make up the rest. In the 2024 presidential election the ratio was about 1.5 to 118.
Broward is different. Its unofficial turnout count by mid-afternoon showed 47,361 Democrats and 37,732 Republicans voting on Election Day19. In 2022, Broward's Election Day voters were 76,163 Democrats and 58,371 Republicans20.
The real disagreement
Facts can't settle this part, so we don't rule on it.
When voting equipment fails on Election Day, how loudly should people raise the alarm, and how far should it shake trust in the result?
Florida Republicans outnumber Democrats on Election Day by about 2 to 116, so Election Day failures can fall harder on them in many places. Officials' first explanations are sometimes wrong, as Westchester's were today2,3. In both Westchester and the 2022 Maricopa County printer failures, a paper ballot remained to count9,21.
Scrutinize every failure loudly
Officials' early reassurances are often wrong, and the people slowed down deserve answers before reassurance.
In Maricopa County in 2022, officials blamed printer settings. Arizona's attorney general's office cited poll workers who said ballots from printers that passed tests the night before stopped scanning within 30 minutes, and it requested logs and timelines22. Five months later a retired chief justice found a different cause: heavier paper and longer ballots pushed printers to "the extreme edge of their capability"21. Officials gave three different explanations for Westchester in one day2,3.
The bipartisan Carter-Baker Commission warned that long lines and poorly trained poll workers discourage voting, and that even honest mistakes "raise public suspicions." It urged complaint logs and full observer access23. Westchester's bags now travel under police escort with both campaigns' lawyers present, so that "there be no conspiracy theory," Lawler said5. Nobody has said who made the late change. Officials shouldn't audit their own performance24.
Report glitches calmly
With paper ballots as the backstop, calling a glitch cheating does more harm than the glitch.
A jammed scanner doesn't mean a lost vote when the paper ballot is still there. The Brennan Center projected about 98 percent of 2024 votes would be cast on paper25. Maricopa's 2022 investigation traced the failures to equipment, and a court later found all votes were counted21. Carter-Baker itself said polling-place problems "usually reflect a shortage of trained poll workers or poor management" rather than a bid for partisan advantage23.
Alleging fraud first has costs. In a peer-reviewed experiment, people shown unsupported fraud claims lost confidence in elections, and fact-checks didn't restore it26. Thirty-two percent of local election officials report threats, harassment or abuse27. Half of counties in 11 Western states have lost their top election official since 202028.
Where they agree
What would change minds
- A public account of who made Westchester's late programming change, and why Election Day machines weren't loaded with it.
- A count of how many voters left without voting in each place, and their party mix.
Sources
Every source was opened and read. Advocacy groups are labeled as such.
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Think we got something wrong? Email editor@viewfromthegallery.com with a source. Corrections are made openly and logged on the page.
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