A video posted to social media authentically reveals a Kentucky voting machine not permitting a voter to pick out Republican former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The video in query does present a Kentucky voter trying to pick out former U.S. President Donald Trump and the machine not letting them. The machine finally selects Vice President Kamala Harris as a substitute. In line with a Laurel County clerk, this was a malfunction.
The system within the video just isn’t a voting tabulation machine, however relatively a poll marking machine that permits voters to make their choices on a display screen earlier than the machine prints a bodily poll reflecting these choices, which is then fed into the tabulation machine. The Laurel County clerk stated the system in query was faraway from service till it was inspected. In addition they stated voters have a number of alternatives to verify their choices are right earlier than turning of their ballots. The voter within the video was capable of forged a poll with their right choices.
In November 2024, a extensively shared post on X allegedly confirmed a voting machine not permitting a voter to pick out the Republican presidential ticket of former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The put up sharing the video requested, “Has this been defined but? Are they dishonest?”
The video initially went viral after being posted to TikTok in late October 2024.
Within the video, a voter makes an attempt to pick out Trump however the machine initially does not reply. Finally it registers a number of the field for the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The video was extensively shared on X, with one post receiving greater than 2.5 million views and practically 24,000 shares as of this writing. That consumer added, “Why does this at all times appear [to] occur in a single path and never the opposite?”
A unique particular person sharing the video on X said, “Cause #80 million to modify to paper and ban voting machines for good.”
Whereas the video in query was genuine and the machine certainly malfunctioned, it was not a voting machine that tabulates votes instantly. Somewhat, it was a poll marking system that asks the voter to make their choices on the display screen after which prints a bodily poll to be used in tabulation. For that reason, we have rated this declare as a combination of true and false.
Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown stated in an announcement posted on Facebook:
The Legal professional Normal’s workplace has been to the vote middle to test the system that has been proven throughout social media at this time. In full disclosure, after a number of minutes of trying to recreate the state of affairs, it did happen. This was achieved by hitting some space in between the containers. After that we tried for a number of minutes to do it once more and couldn’t.
The preliminary assertion continued as follows:
This is similar machine utilized by the voter within the video. It remained at its location within the vote middle and was set face down till the consultant from the Legal professional Normal’s Workplace arrived to research. There have been no claims of any points with the system prior, and none because it went again into service. The voter who posted the video did forged her poll which she stated was right.
Brown additionally posted a video explaining how the poll marking system works. Basically, a voter inserts their paper poll into the machine, makes their choices on the display screen, which then prints the suitable choices on the bodily poll the voter will then flip in for tabulation.
The clerk defined:
It reveals you who you have got chosen for every race and notifies you should you did not make a choice in a race earlier than it permits the voter to proceed to the subsequent web page. If you come to the tip of the poll it reveals you the way you voted in each race and challenge. It confirms with every voter that they’re happy with their choices twice earlier than printing the poll. When you obtain your poll again from the poll marking system you’ll be able to assessment your selections once more earlier than inserting it into the scanner. In case you made a mistake, you might spoil that poll and obtain one other one, Kentucky Regulation permits two spoiled ballots solely. As soon as you might be happy along with your poll you might place it into the scanner, and it verifies that it has been counted.
As well as, Kentucky Legal professional Normal Russell Coleman posted on X:
The Kentucky Legal professional Normal’s Division of Legal Investigations (DCI) shortly responded to the criticism from Laurel County. Detectives have been in contact with the county clerk and beneficial they alter out the voting machine. All Kentucky voters can have faith that our elections are safe and any potential points will probably be addressed shortly.
Coleman additionally launched an announcement by way of the official Kentucky website and stated, “Each Kentuckian will be assured within the safety and integrity of our elections. Our devoted staff of investigators, prosecutors and help employees is working tirelessly to guard each vote. We encourage anybody who suspects election regulation violations to contact the Legal professional Normal’s Election Fraud Hotline.”
Additional, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams reposted a information article in regards to the malfunction and stated, “There is no such thing as a ‘vote-switching.’ The voter confirmed that her poll was appropriately printed as marked for the candidate of her alternative. Get your voting data from reliable sources, not TikTok or cat t***s.”
The secretary of state was referring to a well-liked conservative X account that has 3 million followers. The account reposted one other account sharing the declare and said, “Humorous how this at all times simply goes a technique, is not it?”
Snopes has reached out to the Laurel County clerk to find out whether or not there have been another stories of poll marking machines malfunctioning and can replace this text after we hear again. Similar reports from Kentucky surfaced in 2023.
Snopes has coated all kinds of voter fraud claims associated to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, together with how delayed vote totals don’t indicate that voter fraud is happening, whether or not giant numbers of noncitizens are voting in U.S. elections and whether or not utilizing a Sharpie marker invalidates ballots.
