NEW YORK.- Voting machines at most polling sites in Westchester County, New York, were unable to scan ballots on Tuesday morning after a technical problem struck shortly after polls opened at 6 a.m., the first Election Day glitch of the 2026 United States midterms, as Americans vote with a record 58.7 million ballots already cast before Election Day. The first results are expected on Tuesday evening after polls begin to close at 6 p.m. Eastern time, but officials and news organisations warn that final results in close races could take days.
The Westchester problem was reported by local outlets and carried in live election coverage on Tuesday: machines across polling sites in the county were not accepting ballots because of the technical issue, which appeared shortly after the 6 a.m. opening. No figure for affected voters was confirmed in the reports reviewed, and it was not immediately clear whether voters were being given emergency paper ballots or asked to wait. The glitch stands out on a day when the Department of Justice has deployed a record 1,000 election monitors across all 50 states and when flooding has already forced polling places to move in the Navajo Nation and the Southwest.
A record early vote, and a long night of counting ahead
A total of 58,677,062 Americans had already voted by late Monday night, according to the University of Florida Election Lab, including 31.89 million in-person early votes and 26.78 million mail ballots, a sharp jump from the 46 million early votes in 2022. The Center for Election Innovation and Research said 97 percent of eligible voters live in areas offering early voting. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the Senate's 100 seats are being contested, along with governorships in 36 states. Republicans hold a narrow 218-214 majority in the House, so Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take control, while the Cook Political Report projects Democrats could pick up between 12 and 25 seats.
Polls close in waves across the country: the earliest closures are at 6 p.m. Eastern time in Indiana and Kentucky, more than 80 percent of states will have closed by 9 p.m. Eastern, and Alaska, the last to close, shuts at 1 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday. The first reported results will not necessarily mean a winner has been announced: election officials release vote counts as ballots are processed, while news organisations such as the Associated Press analyse the results before calling a race. With 85 percent of voters citing the economy and 84 percent the cost of living as top issues in an AP-NORC survey, the midterms are widely read as a verdict on Donald Trump's second term.
Read more on The Wire Post: Donald Trump Sends 1,000 Federal Election Monitors to All 50 States in the Largest Election Day Watch in U.S. History, Flooding Moves Election Day Polling Places Across the Navajo Nation as Southwest Storms Threaten Tribal Voters and Donald Trump Faces the Verdict as Americans Vote in the 2026 Midterms.
Sources: Al Jazeera liveblog, Jagran Josh, Financial Express and CGTN, November 3, 2026. The Westchester machine problem is reported from live election coverage; the county had not confirmed a cause or a fix in the reports reviewed.