Election Ballots

Could Kamala Harris have won Wisconsin if the votes cast for one of the independent candidates -- Jill Stein -- had gone to the Democrat? No, that's not true: That implication on social media was based on incomplete early totals. As more and more ballots were counted, Donald Trump's lead significantly outgrew the number of Stein's votes. The claim appeared…

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…

Did the FBI post a video warning that Democrats had rigged voting by prisoners in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona ahead of the 2024 presidential election? No, that's not true: The FBI put out a bulletin calling this a "false narrative." It said the video was "not authentic" and its contents were "false." The claim appeared in a post for a…

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…

Is there a "nationwide issue" affecting Dominion voting machines that is impacting people's ability to vote as they intend? No, that's not true: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson misspoke when she said that. According to a Dominion press release, Michigan is the only state experiencing such issues, specifically with Dominion Voting Assistance Terminals -- a device used by voters…

Does a video of a person with a skateboard show a "ballot mule caught on camera at a branch library in Lincoln, Nebraska? No, that's not true: Local election officials who reviewed surveillance footage of the location confirmed that the person was only returning his ballot to the library's ballot drop box. Both the account that is the focus of…

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…

Do photos of ballots marked with a vote for Donald Trump prove that citizens of other countries are voting in the 2024 U.S. election because American law does not require them to show a voter ID? No, that's not true: Several copycat posts use the same ballot photo to say this, but list different countries in the caption. These posts…

Does a post on social media prove that a "male relative who recently started identifying as a 'woman' received two ballots for the election" in McHenry County, Illinois, in 2024? No, that's not true: The post's images of envelopes had labels that said they had applications for ballots, not mail ballots themselves. The post also didn't prove that the envelopes…