As early voting opened in Texas on Oct. 21, viral claims unfold on-line alleging that poll machines in Tarrant County — house of Fort Price and some of the populous counties within the state — had been “switching” votes.
However election officers refuted the claims, attributing the problem to human error that was corrected and confirming there was no proof of machines altering votes. Related false claims about voting machines have surfaced in Tennessee and Georgia, with election officers in every state attributing errors to voters, not machine tampering.
Election safety specialists advised CBS Information that unfounded claims of machines flipping votes have circulated for years, and whereas voting machines have potential vulnerabilities, there is no such thing as a proof of machines being hacked or programmed to change ballots.
Election officers dispute viral claims
Claims about votes being “switched” or “flipped” have been round since at the very least 2004 and have been leveled by each Democrats and Republicans, in line with David Becker, a CBS Information election legislation contributor and founding father of the Middle for Election Innovation and Analysis.
Becker stated that human error is the reason for “each single” vote switching declare he is encountered, but these remoted incidents are sometimes cited as proof to falsely declare widespread fraud.
In Tarrant County, officers stated that one out of 58,000 ballots solid on the primary day of early voting was misprinted on account of voter error. The claims gained consideration on-line after a viral video confirmed a person insisting the machine switched his vote.
State officers in Georgia have disputed an analogous allegation after Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed {that a} Dominion machine modified a voter’s poll in her district. That declare was based mostly on an nameless viral Fb publish.
The Whitfield County Board of Elections and the Georgia Secretary of State’s Workplace, in addition to Dominion Voting Techniques, all indicated the problem was on account of voter error and stated the problem was resolved whereas the voter was on the polling place.
“There’s a motive we inform individuals to evaluation their ballots. People make errors,” stated Gabriel Sterling, COO of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Workplace, in a publish on X.
In Tennessee, Democratic Rep. Antonio Parkinson alleged that votes for Democratic candidates switched to votes for Republicans. Nonetheless, the Shelby County Election Fee stated no voting irregularities have been discovered and urged voters to evaluation their ballots fastidiously earlier than casting them.
Election safety and voting machines
In 2020, false claims about voting machines, together with Dominion Voting Techniques and Smartmatic, unfold extensively. The claims, amplified by then-President Donald Trump and marketing campaign surrogates, led the businesses to file defamation lawsuits towards people and media retailers that promoted the claims.
Fox Information settled their defamation lawsuit in 2023, agreeing to pay Dominion greater than $787 million for repeatedly broadcasting false accusations concerning the firm.
In 2024, a few of Trump’s supporters, together with X proprietor Elon Musk, have continued to solid doubt on the integrity of voting machines and referred to as for them to be banned.
Voting machines are examined each earlier than and after votes are solid to make sure they’re working correctly, stated Derek Tisler, counsel within the Brennan Middle’s Elections and Authorities Program.
Tisler stated some of the essential election safety safeguards is a paper file of the vote. Implementing a paper file has been a precedence for states since 2016, he stated, and round 98% of votes solid within the 2024 election can have a paper path.
“Election officers will evaluation a pattern of those paper data after the election to substantiate voting machine tallies,” Tisler stated. “And if there’s any motive to suspect a problem with voting machines, they will fall again on these paper data to find out an correct depend.”
Specialists additionally acknowledge that voting machines have potential vulnerabilities and, like every expertise, ought to be up to date and reviewed for safety enhancements.
The “gold commonplace safety” for People are hand-marked paper ballots, in line with J. Alex Halderman, an election safety professional and professor of laptop science and engineering on the College of Michigan. Halderman stated about 70% of the nation votes by way of hand-marked paper ballots.
Tisler stated points like frozen screens or jammed poll scanners are more likely to occur than any sort of “malicious” interference or hacking. He additionally stated voters can unknowingly make the unsuitable picks on touch-screens.
“After I by chance have a typo in a textual content that I ship, I do not assume instantly that my cellphone has been hacked, and I’d encourage the identical kind of persistence and understanding with voters,” Tisler stated.
Specialists stated it is crucial for voters to examine their ballots and make sure all picks are right earlier than casting it. And voters ought to keep in mind that election officers have a plan in place to take care of points and guarantee your vote is counted.
