Absentee Ballots

Did Rep. Thomas Massie lose by 10,280 votes in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District Republican primary in May 2026, while candidate Ed Gallrein received 10,854 mail-in votes? And did Massie receive 50,301 votes out of 66,874 total votes in the 2022 primary, compared with 47,539 out of 105,361 total votes in 2026? Yes, those tallies are all true: Election results from…

Does a fold line or a crease in the candidate name area void paper ballots so "the machines cannot count it" in Wisconsin? No, that's not true: The Grant County clerk, where the complaint about a wrinkled ballot was reported, told Lead Stories a ballot with a crease or a fold would not be voided. She also said that the…

Does an authentic photo show Trump ballots for 2024 about to be destroyed by a poll worker in North Carolina? No, that's not true: The photo used for this post dates back to 2020 in Wallingford, Connecticut, and is not related to ballot destruction or the 2024 election. The original, uncropped photo shows Wallingford Town Clerk Barbara Thompson preparing to…

Does a "dot" in the Kamala Harris box on a Kentucky ballot invalidate any other 2024 choice for U.S. president? No, that's not true: The Kentucky State Board of Elections' general counsel told Lead Stories that both the elections board and the Kentucky attorney general's office were not "aware of any complaints from Kentucky voters" about "pre-printed marks" next to…

Did the Pentagon fail to provide enough absentee ballots for service members overseas? No, that's not true: If a member of the military requests an absentee ballot from their state but it does not arrive in time, they can print a ballot from a special website designed to assist any overseas American voter. More than 3,000 voting assistance officers are…

Did an issue with Michigan's Qualified Voter File database ever involve 168,000 (or any) duplicate or fake ballots? No, that's not true: Michigan's Department of State told Lead Stories that the Qualified Voter File allows only one ballot per voter per election. A spokesperson said, "There were no fake or duplicate ballots." The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Does a photo of a ballot prove that a Canadian citizen was able to cast a vote for Donald Trump because there is no voter ID law in the United States? No, that's not true: The absentee ballot in the photo showing a vote for Trump was copied from a Florida voter's social media post. The post from a person…

Do multiple entries of the same "Voter ID" casting ballots from different addresses on the same date in Michigan's Qualified Voter File indicate potential fraud? No, that's not true: Michigan's Department of State told Lead Stories that the Qualified Voter File only allows one ballot per voter per election. A spokesperson explained that "formatting errors" in displaying the database incorrectly…

Did non-English-speaking voters cut in line to vote early in Pennsylvania? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, told Lead Stories that a video circulating online is incomplete; some elderly and disabled people were allowed to wait their turn inside. A group of voters applying for mail-in ballots needed the help of translators, and the rest of…

Does a video show someone in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, destroying real mail-in ballots from voters who voted for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The Bucks County Board of Elections, the Bucks County District Attorney and the Bucks County Republican Committee all confirmed the video is fake. The local GOP pointed out discrepancies in the filmed election…