Voters in several states ran into paper ballot shortages and voting machine problems on Election Day Tuesday during the 2026 midterms, with some people leaving polling places without casting a ballot before officials scrambled to fix the disruptions.
Problems were reported in Linwood, Kansas; Chicago, Illinois; Brandywine, Maryland; and Westchester County, New York.
Kansas
In Linwood, Kansas, where voters were weighing in on a closely watched Senate race, a shortage of paper ballots forced some people to leave the polling place without voting. A voter told the Kansas Reflector that her 18-year-old son left without casting a ballot after officials ran out of paper ballots, and that she saw another 10 to 15 people leave without voting.
Leavenworth County said in a press release that the shortage happened because of an error in the number of ballots ordered. “The shortage was discovered early, and efforts to correct the mistake began immediately. We recognize the importance of ensuring that every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast a ballot. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and any inconvenience or concern it may have caused,” the county said.
A spokesperson for the Kansas Secretary of State told Fox News Digital that the polling station needed 1,000 ballots but received only 100. “The situation has since been remedied since early this morning and voters are able to vote,” the spokesperson said.
Illinois
In Chicago, several polling locations ran short on ballots, prompting election officials to deliver extra ballots and point voters toward alternative voting centers, according to ABC7 Chicago.
The Chicago Board of Elections said it was printing and delivering extra paper ballots and possibly additional touch-screen voting machines to the affected precincts. “As far as we know, no voters have been turned away or unable to vote,” the board told the outlet.
Illinois State Board of Elections spokesperson Matt Dietrich told Fox News Digital that supplying extra ballots when turnout exceeds expectations is not unusual. “We’ve heard from voters that there are lines at some Chicago polling places but, again, that’s not out of the ordinary in a general election,” he said.
Maryland
In Brandywine, Maryland, voters faced long lines and delays after Brandywine Elementary School, a polling site in Prince George’s County, ran out of paper ballots, according to WJLA.
Prince George’s County Board of Elections administrator Wendy Honesty-Bey told The Banner that the school did not have the correct ballots, a problem that was later corrected.
A spokesperson for Maryland’s State Board of Elections told Fox News Digital: “The State Board of Election’s (SBE) mission is to ensure voting occurs. We, of course, conduct lessons learned after every election and will do so after this election. Once made aware of this situation, more ballots and supplies were deployed to the polling place.”
New York
In Westchester County, New York, the problem wasn’t a shortage but a technical failure — voting machines rejected paper ballots at locations throughout the county.
The county’s Board of Elections said in a statement that a change affecting a contest in one municipality required updated election programming, which was tested and deployed for early voting and Election Day machines in that municipality. “However, Election Day machines elsewhere in the county continued to use the original programming and therefore could not recognize and accept the ballots being used for Election Day,” the statement said.
