Kenneth Jenkins directs voters to emergency ballots after failures at 332 sites

Georgia seeks permission to rescan more than 1,000 early votes

The Guardian reported that voting in the 2026 US midterm elections took place relatively smoothly nationwide on Tuesday, with only a handful of reported issues as tens of millions of voters cast their ballots. The outlet described polling-place glitches as minimal while control of the US Congress was in the balance.

In Westchester County, New York, voting machines at 332 polling locations were unable to scan as many as 250,000 ballots, and some machines did not accept paper ballots. At a news conference, County Executive Kenneth Jenkins stressed that people remained able to vote and would be directed to use emergency ballots. The emergency ballots were to be placed in sealed orange bags and counted later.

Parts of Westchester County are within New York’s closely watched 17th congressional district, where Republican Mike Lawler was in a close race to hold his seat.

Georgia officials requested permission to rescan more than 1,000 early votes after two scanners malfunctioned. WSB-TV reported that one of the scanners had been run over by a wheelchair.

In Tennessee, voters raised concerns that touchscreen voting machines reportedly selected Republican candidates when voters attempted to select Democratic candidates. Some polling locations in Tennessee and Oklahoma resorted to emergency bins for ballots with complications, and officials said the ballots would be counted Tuesday after polls closed. Technicians were dispatched across the country to polling locations that reported problems.

In Kansas, a polling place ran out of ballots. Officials cited a county clerk error that resulted in 100 paper ballots being ordered instead of 100,000.

Mississippi reported a late-opening precinct, temporarily down voting machines, accessibility issues on state agency websites and trouble for voters verifying their registration status.

Minor voting problems occurred in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, because of poll worker error, an issue that was the subject of recent litigation. Milwaukee had also experienced voting issues during the primary. Massachusetts also experienced minor technical difficulties in four precincts, but officials said they were rectified that morning.

The Guardian’s accompanying video reported that flooding affected some voters in Florida.

North Carolina’s state board of elections was set to decide whether to extend voting time by four hours in counties where technical difficulties affected voting. The board announced that the release of election results would be delayed from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.