Election Day Problems Reported Across New York City Polling Stations

A number of problems have been reported at New York City polling stations on Nov. 6, with long lines, malfunctioning scanners, and other issues. And in one case, like the top video, a polling station was locked, forcing firefighters to open it for voters.

The City Council speaker, Corey Johnson, called on Board of Elections Executive Director Michael Ryan to resign from his position over the issues, NBC New York reported.

“Bad weather and high turnout are no excuse when we have forecasts for both,” Johnson said. “Michael Ryan needs to resign and we need a full top to bottom review of what went wrong today.”

“One scanner was completely fine, one was temporarily down but quickly fixed and the third and last scanner was not working at all as of 6:30,” a voter told Pix11 about the machines at a station in Sunnyside, Queens.

A number of problems have been reported at New York City polling stations on Nov. 6, with long lines, malfunctioning scanners, and other issues. And in one case, like the top video, a polling station was locked, forcing firefighters to open it for voters. Credit: Jaleesa Parris via Storyful

“All voting machines are broken at PS 130 In Brooklyn right now,” Brooklyn voter Scott Teplin added. “Waiting for a tech to arrive.”

Voters at a station in Crown Heights said it was “complete chaos” and the line went down the sidewalk with waits of more than an hour, the NBC affiliate reported.

“ALL SCANNERS ARE BROKEN AT PS 22. They just announced that they will be collecting ballots in an emergency collection box to scan later,” voter Barry Hott wrote, NBC reported. “People are very skeptical. Totally unacceptable.”

A voter told NBC that she and her daughter waited two hours to vote.

“The lines were crazy and the staff was arguing,” Jennifer Gaston said. “[F]inally they told us that all of the machines were not working and that we should do an emergency ballot. What a mess.”

Some noted that polling sites weren’t open yet.

“Excuse me, @BOENYC. Why did my friend just go to his polling site in #Brooklyn to be told it’s not open yet? ... It’s 7 am and this his only time to vote due to work,” wrote user A. Mikaelson.

Angela Velez and Barry Hott described ballot errors.

Velez wrote: “6am this morning, Already problems with the ballot scannor [sic]. 1st error message ballot not readable 2nd ballot didn’t drop in the box. 3rd your vote was counted. ?????????. Sunset Park Brooklyn.”

“ALL SCANNERS ARE BROKEN AT PS 22. They just announced that they will be collecting ballots in an emergency collection box to scan later,” Hott tweeted. “People are very skeptical. Totally unacceptable.” He also wrote: “Endless spiraling lines. Everyone is mad. This is my nightmare.”

Meanwhile, one woman on Twitter said that workers weren’t able to get inside the polling station building in Brooklyn. Jaleesa Parris uploaded a video showing firefighters prying open the doors at the Breukelen Community Center as people wait, Storyful reported. Other details about the incident are not clear.