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By June Mercer | November 3, 2026
Polls opened across Dutchess County at 6 a.m. today and close at 9 p.m. No arrest or incident releases have come from local law enforcement agencies since Friday. Ballot scanners failed across most of neighboring Westchester County, but the problem has not reached Dutchess: the Wall Street Journal reported that Dutchess and Putnam counties are not experiencing the issue, according to Republican election commissioners. Two service reminders from earlier this week close out the edition.
Charges are accusations; defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Election Day in Dutchess County
Dutchess County voters are deciding races at multiple levels today. County Legislature seats are contested, and many town supervisor seats are up for grabs with the switch to even-year elections, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal. State Senate and Assembly races are also on the ballot, as is the countywide race for Sheriff, where Kirk A. Imperati appears on the Republican and Conservative lines.
Voters in line before the polls close at 9 p.m. must be allowed to vote, according to the Attorney General's office. Voters who encounter problems at the polls can reach the New York Attorney General's Election Protection Hotline at (866) 390-2992 or file a complaint online. The line runs from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. today, and the office has run the hotline since November 2012. Today is also the last day to postmark or hand-deliver an absentee ballot, according to The Highlands Current.
Ballot Scanners Fail in Westchester; Dutchess Not Affected
Ballot scanners rejected paper ballots at polling sites across Westchester County on Tuesday after a barcode printing error, according to WAMC, reporting the county board of elections' account. County Executive Ken Jenkins said Tuesday afternoon that the Election Day ballots were pre-printed, unlike early voting ballots, which are printed as voters arrive, and that a printing error in the barcodes caused the machines to reject them. "There was some kind of glitch in that from our printer," Jenkins said. He said it was not a problem with the machines, and that concerns about a software issue or hacking were unfounded: "certainly, none of that is true."
Only one of Westchester's 45 municipalities had no ballot scanning issues. The county is working with the state to reprogram machines to accept the barcodes as printed. In the meantime, voters complete their ballots as poll workers instruct, and completed ballots are placed in secure and monitored emergency ballot bags, to be counted in accordance with applicable election procedures. There is no plan to extend voting hours, though some candidates have inquired.
Voter Ha Wallace, who voted at Peekskill Middle School, said she was able to vote but was concerned to see her ballot put in a bag rather than into the machine. She praised the poll workers as helpful and hardworking.
The central Westchester race is New York's 17th Congressional District, where Republican Rep. Mike Lawler faces Democrat Cait Conley. The district covers all of Rockland and Putnam counties, part of southern Dutchess County, and most of northern Westchester County. According to the Wall Street Journal, neighboring Dutchess and Putnam counties are not experiencing the issue, per Republican election commissioners. Polls across New York close at 9 p.m.
Two Reminders
New York State Police are running the Move Over enforcement campaign for Crash Responder Safety Week, November 2 to 6, according to the New York State Police. Today is the second day. Troopers are enforcing the Move Over Law, which protects emergency responders, highway workers, tow truck operators and motorists stopped along the roadway: slow down and move over when safe, and if a safe lane change is not possible, reduce speed and proceed with caution. This blotter covered the campaign on November 1 and November 2; today is a reminder only.
Dutchess County's 24/7 animal cruelty hotline, covered in this blotter when it was announced, is now live as of Sunday, November 1. Residents can call (845) 867-5055 to report non-emergency suspected animal cruelty, neglect or humane law concerns, and should call 911 for an emergency threatening an animal or a person, according to Hudson Valley Country. The hotline was developed by the County Legislature's Animal Welfare and Community Stewardship Committee with the Department of Emergency Response, the Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's Office.
No New Local Agency Releases
As of publication, no release dated November 3 has come from the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office, whose newest release remains the October 30 Drug Task Force arrest covered in last Friday's blotter, and none was found from the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department, the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department, the Hyde Park Police Department, the Beacon Police Department, the Fishkill Police Department, or the Dutchess County District Attorney's Office as a standalone release, and no new Troop K Dutchess County arrest release dated November 3 was found in the State Police newsroom.
Sources
- Poughkeepsie Journal: Election Day 2026 live updates
- New York Attorney General: Election Protection Hotline
- The Highlands Current: Who's on the ballot, 2026
- WAMC: Westchester County working to address voting machine issues
- Wall Street Journal: Westchester says ballots will count after voting machine problems
- New York State Police: Move Over enforcement campaign, Nov. 2-6
- Hudson Valley Country: Dutchess County launches animal cruelty hotline
