Does a video show votes for President Donald Trump in the trash in Oklahoma? No, that's not true: The discarded ballots were spoiled ballots, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board. When a voter accidentally marks more than one candidate in a single race, the ballot is declared spoiled, the voter then gets a new ballot, and the spoiled ballot is destroyed.
The video appeared as a post (archived here) on Rumble on November 10, 2020. It was titled:
Wedding Was Hosted At a Polling Location After the Election -- Look What They Found In the Trash
Users on social media saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Wedding Was Hosted At a Polling Location After the Election -- Look What They Found In the Trash
Why does this keep happening?
In the video, which was first shared on Instagram, two men talk about taking out the trash after a wedding, which they say was held at a location used as a polling place for the 2020 election. One of the men said:
We wanted to show you what we found. We can't make this up at all.
They then display a handful of ripped ballots, marked for Trump, as well as a bag of trash with even more ballots.
Although the men in the video and countless people online took the ballots in the trash as evidence of voter fraud, it's not, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board.
On Twitter, the Oklahoma election authorities posted screenshots from the video and explained that the votes were "spoiled ballots." Here's what election officials said:
FACT CHECK (PART 2): Here are screen shots from the video that clearly show the ballots have been spoiled. We also are posting a redacted Spoiled Ballot Affidavit signed by voters before their spoiled ballots were destroyed. pic.twitter.com/EnklPRN81l
-- Oklahoma State Election Board (@OKelections) November 9, 2020
They posted a link to the statute that stipulates what happens in the case that a voter accidentally marks more than one candidate in a race. The voter returns the spoiled ballot to the clerk, who then destroys it in the presence of the voter and issues a new ballot. The voter signs an affidavit attesting to the fact that he or she spoiled the first ballot.
The Oklahoma State Election Board praised its state's system of checks and balances, stressing that the video does not show fraud. It said:
OK has checks and balances in place to detect & prevent voter fraud. OK election officials take allegations of fraud seriously & report credible allegations to the appropriate authorities for investigation. That video is NOT fraud.
-- Oklahoma State Election Board (@OKelections) November 9, 2020
Lead Stories reached out to the man who posted the original video on Instagram. We will update this story, as needed, if we receive a response.
