Did a Kentucky voting machine shift votes for Donald Trump to Kamala Harris?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Kentucky voting machine shifted Trump votes to Kamala Harris!
People are posting a video as evidence that a Kentucky voting machine shifted votes for Donald Trump to Kamala Harris!
RT : Kentucky voting machine shifted Donald Trump’s votes to Kamala Harris
The video shows a voter trying to select Donald J. Trump, but his vote does not register even after he taps several times. Then after he taps again to vote for Donald Trump, the voting machine appears to select Kamala D. Harris instead.
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Truth : Kentucky voting machine did not shift Trump votes to Kamala Harris!
This is yet another example of fake news about voting, and the 2024 US elections, and here are the reasons why…
The video is genuine
Let me start by pointing out that the video is genuine, and was originally posted by @lisadixie20 on TikTok.
I tried the box and it would not work, then started recording & tried the tiny box & big. When I hit the big area, it voted for Harris
She also stated that she reported it to the election board, and they pulled the voting machine.
I took it all the way to the election board. After this went viral they pulled that machine and said the Attorney General just sent a rep here
However, I should point out that the machine is question isn’t a “voting machine”, but a Ballot Marking Device (BMD), which marks a paper ballot based on your selection on a digital display.
Laurel County confirmed the problem
Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown confirmed the issue, stating that the voting machine had been taken out of service, and they were waiting for the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office representative to take a look at it.
We’ve had an incident today with someone reporting one of the ballot marking devices malfunctioning. We checked it and couldn’t make it recreate the incident reported. The machine has been taken out of service and are waiting for the Attorney General’s Office representative to arrive. We had no complaints prior to or after the complaint. We have left the machine in full view and are awaiting further directions.
But not to worry – the voter in question casted her correct ballot.
The voter who posted the video did cast her ballot which she said was correct.
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Problem was likely due to pressing on the box border
According to former Kentucky Deputy Clerk and Elections Administrator James Young, the video does not depict any fraudulent activity, or vote flipping.
Rather, the problem occurred due to what can best be described as “user problem” – the voter was pressing on the border (instead of the middle) of the preferred candidate’s box, which can cause an adjacent box to be selected.
If you look closely, the voter is attempting to press the small check box located within the text box. Consistently, the voter gently presses their finger on the thin border, which at times can cause an adjacent text box to highlight instead of their intended choice. Had the voter pressed the center of the text box, this would not have occured.
AG Office confirmed it was due to pressing on the box border
According to the Laurel County Clerk, the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office checked the ballot marking device, and confirmed that James Young was right – the error can be replicated by touching the area in between the boxes.
The Attorney General’s office has been to the vote center to check the device that has been shown across social media today. In full disclosure, after several minutes of attempting to recreate the scenario, it did occur. This was accomplished by hitting some area in between the boxes. After that we tried for several minutes to do it again and could not.
Since it appeared to be a user-related issue, the ballot marking device was put back into service, and there have been no reports of similar issues since then.
The Attorney General’s office has been to the vote center to check the device that has been shown across social media today. In full disclosure, after several minutes of attempting to recreate the scenario, it did occur. This was accomplished by hitting some area in between the boxes.
As the Laurel County’s own video shows of the same BMD, there is no issue selecting the preferred candidate if you tap anywhere inside the box itself.
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Voters need to review and verify votes before printing ballot
Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown also explained how it would be quite impossible to fraudulently “flip” the vote using the BMD, as the voter has to verify his/her decision at the end, and confirm twice, before the ballot is printed.
Even after the ballot is printed, the voter can verify his/her choices again. At this time, it is still possible for the voter to discard the existing ballot, and request for another. Kentucky allows for up to two spoiled ballots per voter.
Only once the the voter is satisfied with the selections on the printed ballot, does he/she place the ballot into the scanner to verify that the vote has been counted.
So there are multiple safeguards against fraudulent manipulation of the votes using the Ballot Marking Device, including the physical paper ballot.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
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