Does a photo show someone received two mail-in ballots in California? No, that's not true: This photo shows two ballots for the upcoming Republican primary election in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not California.
The photo appeared in a post (archived here) where it was first published on Facebook on May 12, 2020. The post reads:
[Two mail in ballots in CA sent to the same person with their names on both a week and a half apart. FB keeps deleting this.]
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
While it isn't impossible that the same person was sent two ballots in California, that is not what this photo shows.
The first thing that raised the curiosity of our fact-checkers was at the bottom right of the ballot, where the words 'Allegheny County Board of Elections' appear to be written:
Next is the pink piece of paper on the bottom left. It also appears to say "Allegheny County," and while there are five counties whose names are pronounced that way (all on the East Coast) only one is spelled that way - Allegheny County, PA. Below that line also appears to be a phone number:
The phone number shown appears to start with a 412 area code, which is also in Pittsburgh, PA. The phone number for the Allegheny County Election division in Pittsburgh, PA is 412-350-4500
This photo of a ballot from Pennsylvania doesn't show anything about California. But it does prove that, when sharing information on social media, it pays to be vigilant - don't just mail it in.
