Was it shocking when Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted to Minnesota citizens that they don't have to be registered to vote before they go to the polls on Election Day? No, because it is true: Minnesota election law allows qualified citizens to sign up on Election Day at the voting locations. Expressions of "shock" that suggest it is not legal to vote without prior registration are fake.
The claim that Omar's tweet was a shock appeared in an article (archived here) published by Hannity.com on November 3, 2020, under the title "NOT A JOKE: Ilhan Omar Tells Residents 'You Don't Have to be Registered to Vote' in Minnesota". It opened:
Controversial Congresswoman Ilhan Omar shocked users on social media Tuesday when she claimed "You don't have to be registered to vote in Minnesota" because the state has "same day registration at the polls."
"You don't have to be registered to go vote in Minnesota. We have same day registration so you can register at the polls," posted Omar on social media.
This is what social media users saw at the time of writing:
**OMAR: "You don't have to be registered to go vote in Minnesota. We have same day registration so you can register at the polls..."**
Posted by Sean Hannity on Tuesday, November 3, 2020
This is the tweet that was purportedly shocking:
You don't 👏🏾 have to 👏🏾 be registered 👏🏾 to go vote👏🏾 in Minnesota 👏🏾 we have 👏🏾 same day 👏🏾 registration 👏🏾 so you 👏🏾 can register 👏🏾 at the polls 👏🏾 https://t.co/iJGlm7Rgih 👏🏾
-- Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 3, 2020
Rep. Omar's message is accurate. This is a screenshot of the Minnesota secretary of state's webpage telling voters how to register to vote on election day:
Minnesotans can register to vote at the polls on Election Day by presenting one of seven proofs of identification and residency.
NewsGuard, a company that uses trained journalist to rank the reliability of websites, describes hannity.com as:
The website of influential conservative pundit and Fox News host Sean Hannity, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump who has used his media platform to advance a variety of conspiracy theories. In addition to providing both a podcast version and live stream of his radio show, the site runs anonymously authored articles that are mostly repackaged reports from other conservative news outlets.
According to NewsGuard the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.
