Fact Check: Voter Registration Does NOT Exceed Adult Citizens In Several States -- Census Estimates Are Not Exact

Fact Check

  • by: Alexis Tereszcuk
Fact Check: Voter Registration Does NOT Exceed Adult Citizens In Several States -- Census Estimates Are Not Exact Bad Comparison

Do several states, including Colorado, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, have total voter registration rates larger than the eligible voter population? No, that's not true: The account saying that used a special Census tabulation that utilizes five-year sample estimates but is not a direct 100% headcount of every person, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition, voter registration numbers are typically higher than actual votes cast.

The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @_Patriot1776Q_ account on X on Nov. 9, 2026. It read:

🚨 ELECTION ISSUES: Colorado has more registered voters than Census adult citizens.

53 of 64 counties are over 100%.👀

San Juan County is at 150.4%.
Mineral County is at 147.4%.
Elbert County is at 126.3%.
Douglas County is at 117.8%.
El Paso County is 50,161 over.

Why are so many of these rolls over the adult-citizen count?

This is what the image in the post looked like on X at the time of writing:

ColoradoFile.jpg

(Image source: post by @_Patriot1776Q_ on X.)

The chart says "Census 2020-2024 adult-citizen estimates" were used. That is not the same thing as the 10-year U.S. Census. Instead, it is derived from the Census' American Community Survey (archived here) five-year estimates.

The survey produces useful numbers for planning highways, hospitals, power plants, etc., but it is not an exact count of how many people actually live somewhere, so there is a margin of error. It can be expected that some counties have more or fewer people living there than the survey says.

This does not necessarily prove election fraud, as the voter rolls sometimes include old names, people who moved and inactive voters who have not requested a ballot or voted in years. The actual population count is sometimes higher than an estimate based on a survey from several years ago.

What these numbers definitely do not show is actual voter turnout. You can find Colorado registration and turnout numbers on the Colorado Secretary of State's election results website (archived here).

Here are the numbers from the post about Colorado:

COLORADO
53 of 64 counties are over 100%.👀
San Juan County is at 150.4%.
Mineral County is at 147.4%.
Elbert County is at 126.3%.
Douglas County is at 117.8%.
El Paso County is 50,161 over.

The official websites show the real turnout rates are much lower. Here are the numbers of active voters, ballots cast and the percentage of active voters who cast a ballot from the Colorado counties:
San Juan County (archived here)
TOTAL 77.81%
Ballots Cast: 582
Active Voters: 748

Mineral County (archived here)
TOTAL 77.80%
Ballots Cast: 652
Active Voters: 838

Elbert County (archived here)
Voter Turnout
TOTAL 69.52%
Ballots Cast: 17,350
Active Voters: 24,958

Douglas County (archived here)
Voter Turnout
TOTAL 71.52%
Ballots Cast: 209,292
Active Voters: 292,652

El Paso County (archived here)
Voter Turnout
TOTAL 62.57%
Ballots Cast: 318,222
Active Voters: 508,615

The same account makes this claim about multiple states, including Virginia in a post (archived here) on Nov. 9, 2026. It read:

🚨 ELECTION ISSUES: Virginia has more registered voters than Census adult citizens.

Statewide, 68 of 133 localities are over 100%.

Fairfax City is at 121.3%.
Falls Church City is at 121.1%.
Goochland County is at 114.3%.
Loudoun County is at 113.4%.
Fairfax County is 58,187 over.

Why are so many of these rolls over the adult-citizen count?

This is what the image in the post on X looked like at the time of writing:

Virginia.jpg

(Image source: post by @_Patriot1776Q_ on X.)

Here are the numbers of active voters, ballots cast and the percentage of active voters who cast a ballot from the Virginia localities (archived here) listed above:

Fairfax City
Active Voters: 18,225
Inactive Voters: 1,013
Voters: 19,238
Ballots Cast: 11,326
Voter Turnout: 58.87%

Falls Church City
Active Voters: 11,820
Inactive Voters: 794
Voters: 12,614
Ballots Cast: 8,255
Voter Turnout: 65.44%

Goochland County
Active Voters: 24,525
Inactive Voters: 669
Voters: 25,194
Ballots Cast: 17,773
Voter Turnout: 70.54%

Loudoun County
Active Voters: 295,949
Inactive Voters: 19,235
Voters: 315,184
Ballots Cast: 186,577
Voter Turnout: 59.20%

Fairfax County
Active Voters: 763,478
Inactive Voters: 62,151
Voters: 825,629
Ballots Cast: 482,608
Voter Turnout: 58.45%

The same account makes the same claim about New Jersey in a post (archived here) on Nov. 9, 2026. It read in part:

Union County is at 111.3%, 40,508 over.
Essex County is at 106.3%, 34,083 over.
Middlesex County is at 105.7%, 32,171 over.
Monmouth County is at 106.4%, 30,677 over.
Somerset County is at 109.5%, 22,834 over.

This is what the image in the post looked like on X at the time of writing:

NewJersey.jpg

(Image source: post by @_Patriot1776Q_ on X.)

Here are the numbers of active voters, ballots cast and the percentage of active voters who cast a ballot from the New Jersey counties:

Union County (archived here)
Voter turnout
TOTAL 45.87%
Ballots Cast: 182,323
Registered Voters: 397,454

Essex County (archived here)
TOTAL 39.19%
Ballots Cast: 225,953
Registered Voters: 576,608

Middlesex County (archived here)
TOTAL 41.91%
Ballots Cast: 249,353
Registered Voters: 594,918

Monmouth County (archived here)
TOTAL 46.98%
Ballots Cast: 238,963
Registered Voters: 508,599

Somerset County (archived here)
TOTAL 50.60%
Ballots Cast: 133,982
Registered Voters: 264,789

Three other states -- Maryland, Michigan and Alaska -- were targeted by the same account.

This is what the image in the post about Maryland (archived here) looked like on X at the time of writing:

Maryland.jpg

(Image source: post by @_Patriot1776Q_ on X.)

This is what the image in the post about Michigan (archived here) looked like on X at the time of writing:

Michigan.jpg

(Image source: post by @_Patriot1776Q_ on X.)

This is what the image in the post about Alaska (archived here) looked like on X at the time of writing:

Alaska.jpg

(Image source: post by @_Patriot1776Q_ on X.)

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  Alexis Tereszcuk

Alexis Tereszcuk is a writer and fact checker at Lead Stories and an award-winning journalist who spent over a decade breaking hard news and celebrity scoop with RadarOnline and Us Weekly.

As the Entertainment Editor, she investigated Hollywood stories and conducted interviews with A-list celebrities and reality stars.  

Alexis’ crime reporting earned her spots as a contributor on the Nancy Grace show, CNN, Fox News and Entertainment Tonight, among others.

Read more about or contact Alexis Tereszcuk

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