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Westchester voting machines failed on Election Day, rejecting every ballot in a race that could determine control of Congress.
At 6 a.m. Tuesday, voters in Mike Lawler's district encountered massive issues when scanners began spitting back ballots like a vending machine rejecting a dollar bill. Officials quickly pointed to a software update as the cause, but the timing of this technical glitch raises serious questions about the integrity of the process in such a critical contest.
This breakdown covers the official explanation provided by election authorities regarding the voting machine malfunction. We examine why a software update would occur on Election Day and what this means for voters concerned about election security and ballot accuracy during a high-stakes House race.
Subscribe for regular election integrity updates and comment below on whether you trust the official explanation for these county-wide scanner errors.
At 6 o'clock Tuesday morning,
in one of the House races that could decide who runs Congress,
the ballot scanners in Westchester County,
New York, it started spitting ballots back out.
Every single one. Kind of like a vending machine rejecting
a dollar bill. But the explanation,
the official explanation, oh, it was a software update.
Okay, that clears it right up, doesn't it?
A software update on Election Day in Mike Lawler's district?
Your phone updates itself at like
3am without even asking. But New York couldn't swing it.
Somebody please give this IT guy a raise
and a lawyer. Cheating op? Giant mess?
Hold that thought. Oh, it gets even wilder, guys.
So while those ballots sat in emergency orange bags,
very Home Depot style, the Ninth Circuit
flipped back. Oh yeah, the Ninth Circuit,
they flipped back and forth three times in 12 hours,
like judges playing hot potato with democracy. Final score?
Trump's DOJ 6, everybody else 5, California is furious,
Rob Bonta is furious, and apparently
asking are you a citizen at a citizens-only election
is now considered a hate crime.
So then Florida counted everything by 7pm,
congratulations Byron Donalds by the way,
and they went home for dinner. Other states? Give us a few days.
Maricopa County might finish by Easter, which Easter they won't say.
Oh, and NBC, CBS, and PBS are all posting the same message,
slow counts are normal,
totally organic, like three kids turning in identical homework.
Meanwhile, NBC's own Steve
Kornacki, he admitted pollsters can't find Republican voters.
Turns out farmers don't
answer unknown numbers.
Texas, Michigan, and Georgia, they woke up saying,
No freaking way.
Oh yeah, and the SAVE Act, the bill that was built
to keep non-citizens off the rolls,
John Thune let it die like a houseplant on vacation.
Oh, and that viral Minnesota poll worker
that the internet called a MAGA death threat.
Yeah, the truth is actually stranger than what we thought.
So you will not see this coming, guys.
So today we're going to cover it all,
plus the one weapon that President Trump still
holds that Democrats fear the most.
Now, if you or someone you love is on Medicare or turning 65 years old,
Chapter offers completely free Medicare help.
Real humans, plain English, no software updates, just
Click the link in the description down below,
or call the phone number in the description,
909-563-8279. They're saving the average senior about $1,100 a year.
And if you're new here,
guys, go ahead and hit subscribe.
Unlike Westchester scanners, our button works on
the first try. And if you enjoy the show,
just hit the like button. Totally appreciate that.
So picture it, guys. Tuesday, 6 a.m., Westchester County, New York.
The line's already out the door.
A woman walks up to the scanner, slides her ballot in,
and it spits it right back out. Okay.
Weird.
Let me try this again.
Spit.
Yeah, the guy behind her, he tries the same thing, spit.
The next polling place over, spit.
So within an hour and a half,
Congressman Mike Lawler is posting,
there is a problem with every ballot scanner in Westchester
County. Today is about fixing the problem,
getting this right, and we're off to a bit of an
inauspicious start. Remember,
the court order mandated that the process of counting these votes
begin by 11 a.m. That did not happen.
What did happen was a county elections commissioner brought
a group together right where I'm standing here in the parking lot.
It was campaign staffers.
And attorneys for all of the campaigns on the ballot before eventually
the group was led inside by the commissioner,
but that was not until 11:30.
And I want to show you what this looked like.
And just to refresh our viewers on why this is necessary on the morning
of Election Day, a problem with printed ballots left scanners unable
to accept votes at polling locations across Westchester County. So
Election workers had to collect ballots
using emergency procedures. For some voters,
that meant placing their completed ballots into secured bags.
Those bags, according to the
commissioner today, are still being dropped off this morning.
They now have to review every single
bag and count every single vote inside.
All bags are being reviewed to confirm
that all the emergency ballots were removed
and placed where they needed to be. Everyone heard
that, right? We're going to review every single bag
in regards to whether it was received by the police
Do you have an estimate for how long this might take?
Not on your life.
Not on your life.
As we get started we'll see
if we can give a better ETA
but I would not even begin
to guess or guesstimate how long
this will take.
Well, you just heard some of it.
After the briefing, Commissioner Nelson opened it up
for questions. And actually,
the very first one was one man who raised his hand and asked,
what's for lunch? We're going to be here all day.
So it sounds like we will, too.
Every scanner. Now, why does this matter, guys?
Because this isn't some sleepy race for a dog
catcher. This is New York's 17th District, OK?
Mike Lawler versus Democrat Kate Conley.
One of a handful of seats that could decide
who controls the House of Representatives.
Now think of it, thousands of ballots, nowhere to put them.
And of all the counties in America,
this one? Of course this one.
Now quick pause guys, if you would rather listen than watch
in the car, in the gym, hiding from your in-laws,
the Ron Yates Report is now on Spotify,
so just go ahead and search me up and hit subscribe.
Alright, so let's get back to
these scanners. So what happens now?
The county had an answer already prepared.
The paperwork was too thick.
Ah, yes, of course.
Thick paperwork.
Thick.
The silent killer of democracy.
So then, of course, later that day,
the explanation quietly disappeared from the statement.
Poof, gone.
So the New York State Board of Elections, they had a new story.
A programming update this time.
One town needed a change, so they updated those machines.
Everybody else in the same county?
They're still running the old program.
It's still election day in Westchester County.
Sort of.
They're still counting ballots here
because of that computer glitch that prevented machines
from reading the ballots that were cast early on throughout the county.
Eventually, they did get a machine that was working
at most polling places, but the ballots
that had been cast earlier were put into secure bags
and brought here under police escort
so that they could be counted.
They don't even have an exact number how many ballots.
Tens of thousands, however,
is the best estimate that they are working under.
Another machine will be scanning ballots from Portland.
And so today...
The counting has begun before representatives from both parties,
from campaigns, as well
as attorneys, to make sure that this is done in a fair, bipartisan way.
Election officials say they want to make sure
that they count those ballots and get the
final results in before they get to the exact cause of what happened.
They're pretty sure human error was to blame and not foul play.
Our voting systems are not on the Internet.
They're not hackable from the outside.
You have true checks and balances,
Both parties oversee the entire election process.
Under state law, final results must be certified within 25 days
and officials say they're working
on that and then we'll focus on how
to prevent this from ever happening again.
So the scanners couldn't read the ballots.
Somewhere an IT guy is updating his resume.
So ballots went into emergency orange bags. Police escorts after 9pm,
Lawler headed to court asking
for one central count with both sides watching.
So here's the silver lining, folks. These were paper ballots.
So when the machines broke, the votes didn't.
This is why every state should use paper ballots.
Now quick favor, think of the one friend,
the one person in your family who says, oh
nothing weird ever happens in elections,
you already know exactly who we're talking about
guys, do not argue with them,
just go ahead and send this video, smile, and let the orange
bags do the talking.
So now, let's go ahead and jump to the West Coast,
it's the same chaos, the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals, they're having the strangest Tuesday ever,
one ruling and then the court
basically reverses it,
and then it reverses the reversal, three rulings,
12 hours.
This is not a court, guys.
This is like a tennis match in black robes.
So then the dust settles.
6-5.
President Trump's Justice Department wins.
So what did they win?
Well, the DOJ can ask California
and Washington to set aside ballots from people flagged as
likely non-citizens. And it can warn election officials,
knowingly count illegal ballots,
and you might meet a federal prosecutor.
It's a request, not an order. Now,
think stern letter with a badge.
We just learned, Reid, that the Department of Justice,
the Trump administration,
has now asked the U.S. Supreme Court to essentially intervene and weigh
We're going to go all the way in here.
...filing this emergency brief.
This comes after a federal appeals court in California
essentially dismissed the DOJ request
to set aside thousands of ballots, as the administration
has alleged that they were votes from non-citizens.
The court, the lower courts, essentially questioned
the timing, saying this is happening...
Right before Election Day,
questioned the claims made by the Department of Justice.
This has happened in California.
There was also a similar request made to Washington State.
So now that this is escalating,
the administration wants the Supreme Court to weigh in.
But as you know, Reid, we are on Election Eve,
one day before Election Day.
So it's unclear at this point whether
the high court will weigh in and how quickly they'll do that.
So California's Attorney General Rob Bonta,
he has fought this at every turn because
nothing says confidence quite like panicking over a citizenship check.
Now, for years, the experts told us
that non-citizen voting basically never happens.
Never. Not once. Myth. Total conspiracy theory.
Go back to your bunker, Grandpa.
Yeah, then October happened.
President Trump's Justice Department charged 16
non-citizens across the country with guess what?
Illegal voting and lying about citizenship to register.
The list? Jamaica, Haiti, Canada,
Britain, even Bosnia. Bosnia? Yep, Bosnia's on the list too.
Canadians, guys. They're supposed
to apologize, not vote. This is not a voter roll.
This is the Olympics opening ceremony.
Then, of course, ICE picked up more people for illegal voting,
right as early voting opened up.
Illegal voting folks. The Department of Justice
is sending election monitors to three counties to
keep an eye on things on Tuesday.
Yeah that news comes as federal investigators crack down on
alleged voter fraud. This is exclusive video
of agents carrying out an operation right here in
central North Carolina. CBS 17 was the only media there
as agents arrested a woman who's accused of
illegal voting as a non-citizen.
Harrison Grubb and photojournalist Derez Nguyen take us inside
what's called Operation Ballot Shield with video
and an interview you'll see only on CBS 17.
An exclusive look inside Operation Ballot Shield.
Law enforcement partners have worked
diligently over many months to review.
Allegations and reports of illegal voting.
That's the voice of an agent
with Homeland Security Investigations who, alongside the FBI,
led an operation in Harnett County Wednesday morning.
Both agencies are working together with state and local law enforcement
to identify those that are suspected of voting illegally
and making false claims to U.S. citizenship in order to do so.
Those investigations resulting
in this traffic stop on U.S. 421 in Lillington.
We were the only media crew on scene
when agents took Patricia Elena Valencia Cardona into custody.
Law enforcement.
Works very hard to conduct these operations professionally and safely.
A lot of planning goes into these operations.
According to an indictment, Cardona is accused
of falsely claiming citizenship to vote in the 2024 election.
Online voter records show she registered just three days before
the election and voted early in person.
A lot of planning goes into these operations and the results today.
Showcase that the Justice Department announced her arrest
and 17 others from across the state Thursday in a statement.
U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle for the Eastern District of North Carolina
said in part, quote, protecting the integrity of our elections
is fundamental to preserving our constitutional republic.
Ten others were arrested earlier this month as part of Operation Ballot
Shield in North Carolina, including a permanent resident the Department
of Homeland Security says voted in eight different elections.
Thirty people across the state have been charged so far this year.
Earlier this week, the Department
of Justice announced that 48 people across multiple
states were taken into custody for similar charges.
And President Donald Trump put up a million dollars
for tips that lead to convictions.
A million bucks, guys.
Now, somewhere, a nosy neighbor just cleared his weekend.
Is it millions of illegal votes?
No, it's dozens of cases so far.
But never was never true.
Never happens.
Never happens.
Handcuffs never happens. You see where I'm going with this,
right guys? They said it never
happens. Apparently, never, never happened.
So now, here's the part that really kind of
makes your blood pressure do some jumping jacks.
There was a fix. It had a name. It was called the
Save Act. You may or may not have heard of it.
The idea was pretty simple, though. You want to
register to vote? Prove you're a citizen. That's it.
This is the whole bill. A golden retriever
could sign off on this thing.
So now, Mike Johnson's house passed it. Of course they passed
Mike Johnson was running the show for the most part.
But then it walked into the Senate.
And it was never seen again.
Thanks, John Thune.
So the Senate rules need 60 votes, Democrats blocked it,
and John Thune guarded the filibuster
like a family heirloom.
So the bill just sat there.
Yep, the Save America Act just started collecting dust like,
you know, it sat there like leftovers
in the back of a refrigerator.
Very, very Mitch McConnell of him.
Meanwhile, millions of ballots, they went out in the mail.
Republicans didn't lose the Save
America Act. Republicans didn't lose the Save Act to Democrats.
They lost it to themselves.
And voters noticed. Oh, and then the plot twist
that nobody saw coming. California, guys. Yes,
that California, the land of avocado toast and 47 kinds of oat milk.
Yeah, it voted for voter ID.
Well, it voted on voter ID.
It's called Prop 39, co-written by Assemblyman Carl DeMaio.
Show a government ID to vote in person.
Give part of your ID number on a mail ballot.
Check that people on the voter rolls are actual citizens.
And if you don't have an ID, well, the state gives you one for free.
Free! In California, guys.
Normally they charge you a tax just for asking.
Nevada, North Carolina, and Oklahoma voted on voter ID too.
And who came out against it in California?
Xavier Becerra. That's right, guys.
In California, you need ID to buy cold medicine,
to board a plane, but to pick a senator?
Just go ahead and sign here, sweetie.
Yeah, so let's go ahead and talk about speed, shall we?
Florida, 23 million people, hurricanes, alligators,
some guy named Florida Man doing something
weird every 20 minutes or so.
And they still post results on election night.
Now, look at California, guys.
They're still counting.
And they'll be counting probably through next week
and maybe the week after that.
Arizona's Maricopa County, they move so slow,
the ballots qualify for Social Security.
It is bad over there.
Why?
Why?
Like, mostly mail ballots.
Every envelope has to be opened.
Every signature checked.
And California even counts ballots
that show up a full week after Election Day.
A week, guys.
Your rent has a deadline.
Your ballot gets all sorts of grace periods.
So here's the thing.
Slow doesn't automatically mean crooked,
but slow makes people pretty nervous.
And nervous people, they stop trusting the result.
If Florida can do it by bedtime, everybody can.
So here's something weird.
On election day, NBC, CBS, even PBS,
they all have the same message ready.
Results may take time.
That's normal.
And if the candidate who's behind suddenly pulls ahead overnight,
Also normal. Go to bed. Don't worry about it.
This is not news, guys. This is a bedtime story.
Now, here's the kicker. The government doesn't call these races.
News outlets do. The Associated
Press and the networks, they look at early numbers,
they run their own math, and they
announce a winner, sometimes with a small slice of the vote counted.
Oh, and the official results?
States certify those weeks later.
So the same folks telling you, oh, be patient. It takes time.
They're the same folks who called races before breakfast.
Does that prove fraud? No, of course
not. It proves that the system runs on trust us,
and trust is running a little low if you ask me.
So now, let's go ahead and talk polls, shall we?
Before Election Day, NBC's Steve Kornacki,
he warned that pollsters were getting more calls answered
by Democrats than Republicans.
The New York Times, they found about 30% more Democrats answered.
It makes sense, though. Republicans see an unknown number
and they just assume it's a scam.
Usually they're right. I do. What about you?
Then a fake polling firm, they got caught making
up results in key races.
Kind of like a kid filling in his reading log on the bus. Oh,
and Polymarket's odds bounced around Texas, Iowa,
Michigan, and Maine like a pinball machine.
Lots of folks figured that the polls were junk
and the red wave was coming. Well,
Here's the hard truth, folks.
This time, the polls showing Democrats ahead weren't fake.
And if you stayed home because you didn't trust them,
well, next time, prove them wrong at the
ballot box. So here's what we know about voting night, guys.
No sugarcoating. Democrats won the
House. Democrats won the Senate.
The Associated Press called both. In Ohio, Amy Acton beat
Vivek Ramaswamy for governor.
And across Texas, Michigan, and Georgia, a lot of Republicans woke
Woke up looking at their phones and said,
No freaking way.
It felt like 2020 all over again.
Kitchen table, 3 a.m., a map turning blue like it caught a cold.
And then you are just sitting at the screen.
You already know the results, but you just
can't quite believe it and you can't even
go to sleep.
TV's just on and on and on.
It's like.
So, what now guys? Not rage, rules.
Close races, they can get recounts. In many states,
this kicks in when the margin is around half a percent.
In Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina,
campaigns can ask. Watchers can watch.
Lawyers can lawyer. You want answers?
Bring cameras. Bring clipboards.
Bring receipts. Chaos helps the other side.
Receipts help ours. So, okay, guys,
you guys remember that viral photo, right? A Minnesota
poll worker, a shirt that says problem solved,
fake blood around the collar. The internet saw
it and absolutely exploded.
People said that she was mocking Charlie Kirk's murder, a threat to
MAGA voters. Lock her up. So here's what actually happened.
It wasn't Minneapolis. It was Rogers,
a suburb in Hennepin County.
The photo was taken on Saturday, Halloween. The shirt,
A years-old Halloween novelty design.
And the poll worker?
She's one of the city's Republican election judges. Wait, what? Yeah,
seriously. The internet tried her, convicted her,
and started the jail paperwork for a Halloween
costume, worn by one of our own.
And no, she was never sent home. So here's the lesson, guys.
We were right about Westchester.
We were right about the SAVE Act. So, check first, then go
loud. So, where does this leave us?
Angry, tired, asking why nobody high up ever pays a price.
Here's the answer, folks. Democrats run Congress now.
Hakeem Jeffries might hold the gavel, but
every bill that they pass still lands on one desk,
the Resolute Desk. And President
President Donald Trump holds the pen, so veto, veto.
Veto, veto. Two years of whack-a-mole
and President Trump owns the hammer. Meanwhile,
his Justice Department keeps on building cases one handcuff
at a time. And don't forget who
showed up. Lifelong Democrats who voted straight red and said,
this isn't JFK's party anymore.
Red ballots cast in San Diego, in Illinois.
So here's the plan. Paper ballots, voter ID,
pass the SAVE Act, vote early, in person, in every election.
Even the school board.
Pray hard.
Work harder.
We ain't done, guys.
So, last night's done, guys.
It did.
No point pretending otherwise.
But the scanners that choked, the bill that got shelved,
the networks that hedged, every
bit of it, it can actually be fixed by us.
You want this in your earbuds?
The Ron Yates Report lives on Spotify.
Hit follow and the next time the scanner rejects reality,
you'll hear about it first.
No software update required.
And if this video made you laugh,
made you think, maybe even yell at your screen,
Hit the like button on the way out.
Totally appreciate you.
It's totally free.
No ID required, unlike, hopefully, the next election.