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 are just trolling on social media and do not reflect something the posters have really done. Thirty-five states require some form of voter ID. U.S. law stipulates that only U.S. citizens can vote for president.
One version of the post (archived here) was published on X by @dogeofficialceo on November 2, 2024. It was captioned:
I'm Irish, but since the USA doesn't require voter ID, I flew over there today just to vote
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Nov 04 15:53:32 2024 UTC)
The composite image below shows three additional examples (archived here, here, and here) of posts on X on November 1 and 2, 2024, that use the same image of a ballot marked with a vote for Trump. The captions of the posts read:
- I'm portuguese, on vacation in Michigan. But since the US doesn't require voter ID, I just voted Donald Trump for President
- I'm from Spain, but since the USA doesn't require voter ID, I flew over there today just to vote. 🤣🤘
- Voted from India 👍🏻👍🏻
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with X screenshots taken on Mon Nov 04 16:15:19 2024 UTC)
The website Ballotpedia.org has a detailed page listing the voter ID laws by state -- 35 states do require some form of ID. There is also a color-coded map that shows if a state requires a photo ID, a non-photo ID or if no ID is required.
The United States Code, a collection of U.S. laws, stipulates in USC 611: Voting by aliens that non-citizens cannot vote in presidential, congressional or other elections, and imposes a penalty of a fine and/or imprisonment on violators:
(a) It shall be unlawful for any alien to vote in any election held solely or in part for the purpose of electing a candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner ...
(b) Any person who violates this section shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
On November 1, 2024, Lead Stories addressed a similar false claim where pictures of passports of other countries were paired with images of another ballot supposedly used by a non-citizen to vote for Trump.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims associated with the 2024 U.S. presidential election can be found here.
