Kentucky Voting Machine Did not Let Voter Solid Poll for Trump?

A video posted to TikTok that allegedly confirmed a Kentucky 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 went viral on social media 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 broadly shared on X, with one post receiving extra 2 million views and 24,000 shares as of this writing. That consumer added, “Why does this all the time appear [to] occur in a single course and never the opposite?”

A unique individual sharing the video on X said, “Cause #80 million to change to paper and ban voting machines for good.” One other broadly shared post, with almost 20 million views and 45,000 reposts as of this writing, claimed, “Kentucky voting machines are REFUSING to let voters choose Donald Trump’s identify, mechanically deciding on Kamala Harris as an alternative.”

Whereas the video in query was genuine and the machine certainly malfunctioned, it was not a voting machine that tabulates votes straight. Reasonably, it was a poll marking machine that asks the voter to make their alternatives on the display 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 Common’s workplace has been to the vote middle to verify the machine that has been proven throughout social media in the present day. 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 packing 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 identical 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 Common’s Workplace arrived to research. There have been no claims of any points with the machine prior, and none because it went again into service. The voter who posted the video did solid her poll which she stated was appropriate.

Brown additionally posted a video explaining how the poll marking machine works. Primarily, a voter inserts their paper poll into the machine, makes their alternatives on the display, which then prints the suitable alternatives on the bodily poll the voter will then flip in for tabulation. 

The clerk defined: 

It reveals you who you will have chosen for every race and notifies you in the event you did not make a choice in a race earlier than it permits the voter to proceed to the following web page. Whenever you come to the tip of the poll it reveals you the way you voted in each race and situation. It confirms with every voter that they’re glad with their alternatives twice earlier than printing the poll. When you obtain your poll again from the poll marking machine you may evaluate your selections once more earlier than inserting it into the scanner. If you happen to made a mistake, chances are you’ll spoil that poll and obtain one other one, Kentucky Legislation permits two spoiled ballots solely. As soon as you might be glad together with your poll chances are you’ll place it into the scanner, and it verifies that it has been counted. 

As well as, Kentucky Legal professional Common Russell Coleman posted on X:

The Kentucky Legal professional Common’s Division of Prison Investigations (DCI) rapidly responded to the criticism from Laurel County. Detectives have been in contact with the county clerk and really useful they alter out the voting machine. All Kentucky voters can believe that our elections are safe and any potential points shall be addressed rapidly.

Coleman additionally launched an announcement through the official Kentucky website and stated, “Each Kentuckian could be assured within the safety and integrity of our elections. Our devoted staff of investigators, prosecutors and assist employees is working tirelessly to guard each vote. We encourage anybody who suspects election regulation violations to contact the Legal professional Common’s Election Fraud Hotline.”

Additional, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams reposted a information article concerning the malfunction and stated, “There isn’t any ‘vote-switching.’ The voter confirmed that her poll was accurately printed as marked for the candidate of her alternative. Get your voting info from professional 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 all the time simply goes a method, is not it?”

Snopes has reached out to the Laurel County clerk to find out whether or not there have been another studies of poll marking machines malfunctioning and can replace this text after we hear again. Similar reports from Kentucky surfaced in 2023. 

Snopes has lined 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.