Allegations challenging the integrity of the vote have exploded online as millions of people vote in the US election. One specific allegation included a picture going around social media showing someone carrying a mail-in ballot with a pre-marked pick next to Kamala Harris’s name. The person who posted this picture on X said that voting for any candidate but Harris would nullify the ballot.
Viewed almost 3 million times, the post said, “This picture shows weird ballot shenanigans happening.” However, the Kentucky Board of Elections contacted to clear and quickly discounted the charge.
“We have mailed out 130,000 ballots so far and have not been made aware of any complaints about mail-in ballots having pre-printed marks in any candidate selection boxes,” the board states. However, they said, “As no one has presented a pre-marked ballot to election administrators or law enforcement, the claim that at least one ballot may have had a pre-printed mark in Kentucky currently exists only in the vacuum of social media.”
Significantly, the election board stated that if a Kentucky voter puts more than one candidate in ink on a mail-in ballot, their vote will still count as long as they circle their preferred choice.
Did the Pentagon Fail to Send Absentee Ballots to Military Service Members?
With almost 28 million views, another assertion making headway on X claimed that “the Pentagon reportedly failed to send absentee ballots to active military service members before the election.” This allegation relates to a letter three Republican Congressmen sent to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressing “great concern” over “deficiencies” in the voting processes for overseas military personnel.
The letter does not, however, specifically charge the Pentagon for not providing absentee ballots. It is essential to underline that election officials where military people are registered to vote bear the duty of delivering ballots, not the Pentagon. “Military personnel can vote abroad through the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP),” explained a specialist on military voting policies.
Military personnel can use a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) when ballots might not arrive before voting deadlines. The letter states that some “service members” asked for an FWAB but were informed their base was running low. Still, one can download and sign a FWAB from the FVAP website.
The Department of Defense did disclose that it has trained 3,000 Voting Assistance Officers to help military personnel with voting, even if it failed to offer particular figures on how many people were impacted by this issue.
Were Illegal Voters Allowed to Apply for Ballots in Pennsylvania?
Officials in Pennsylvania have responded to allegations that “illegal voters” were let apply for ballots and cast votes at an Allegheny County election office. Following viral social media posts, a claim to show “illegal voters” directed past US people waiting in line was made public.
Allegheny County officials emphasized that the group shown on the posts was here to apply for mail-in votes. Emphasizing that it is illegal for non-US citizens to vote in federal elections, they reiterated, “Only US citizens can register to vote. ” Studies repeatedly show that events of this nature are pretty unusual.
Did a Voting Machine Malfunction Raise Concerns?
Online videos surfaced showing a Laurel County, Kentucky, voter repeatedly trying and failing to vote for Donald Trump on a voting machine, with the machine registering a vote for Kamala Harris instead. The person who posted the video said, “I hit Trump’s name 10 times and it wouldn’t work; then, you can see what happened; it switched to Harris.”
This tweet attracted almost seven million views and claimed: “Voting machines in Kentucky are flipping the vote from Donald Trump to Kamala Harris. Election tampering is what this is!
Election officials verified the video’s veracity and admitted the voting machine problem. Still, they underlined that this was an isolated occurrence, and the voter finally cast their ballot as planned. “After trying to replicate the situation for several minutes, it did happen. This was achieved by striking some areas in between the boxes. The county clerk said, “We tried to do it again for several minutes and couldn’t.” The machine was removed from use until it could be inspected, and the county clerk subsequently uploaded a video proving the machine was in good running order.
What Do Experts Say About Election Integrity?
“In an election of this scale, there are always going to be some problems,” said a US election website voting specialist. “People are extending them out into more significant issues. However, it can be one or two devices. The specialist said with a reasonable degree of certainty that they were caught and isolated events.
Officials remain alert while the voting continues, reassuring voters that steps are in place to handle any anomalies that might develop.
