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Oct 25, 2024

False claims about machines "switching" votes are going viral. Here's what to know. - CBS News

By Layla Ferris October 24, 2024 / 7:09 PM EDT / CBS News As early voting opened in Texas on Oct. 21, viral claims spread online alleging that ballot machines in Tarrant County — home of Fort Worth

By Layla Ferris

October 24, 2024 / 7:09 PM EDT / CBS News

As early voting opened in Texas on Oct. 21, viral claims spread online alleging that ballot machines in Tarrant County — home of Fort Worth and one of the most populous counties in the state — were "switching" votes.

But election officials refuted the claims, attributing the issue to human error that was corrected and confirming there was no evidence of machines altering votes. Similar false claims about voting machines have surfaced in Tennessee and Georgia, with election officials in each state attributing errors to voters, not machine tampering.

Election security experts told CBS News that unfounded claims of machines flipping votes have circulated for years, and while voting machines have potential vulnerabilities, there is no evidence of machines being hacked or programmed to alter ballots.

Claims about votes being "switched" or "flipped" have been around since at least 2004 and have been leveled by both Democrats and Republicans, according to David Becker, a CBS News election law contributor and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

Becker said that human error is the cause of "every single" vote switching claim he's encountered, yet these isolated incidents are often cited as proof to falsely claim widespread fraud.

In Tarrant County, officials said that one out of 58,000 ballots cast on the first day of early voting was misprinted due to voter error. The claims gained attention online after a viral video showed a man insisting the machine switched his vote.

State officials in Georgia have disputed a similar allegation after Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that a Dominion machine changed a voter's ballot in her district. That claim was based on an anonymous viral Facebook post.

The Whitfield County Board of Elections and the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, as well as Dominion Voting Systems, all indicated the issue was due to voter error and said the issue was resolved while the voter was at the polling place.

"There is a reason we tell people to review their ballots. Humans make mistakes," said Gabriel Sterling, COO of the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, in a post on X.

In Tennessee, Democratic Rep. Antonio Parkinson alleged that votes for Democratic candidates switched to votes for Republicans. However, the Shelby County Election Commission said no voting irregularities have been found and urged voters to review their ballots carefully before casting them.

In 2020, false claims about voting machines, including Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, spread widely. The claims, amplified by then-President Donald Trump and campaign surrogates, led the companies to file defamation lawsuits against individuals and media outlets that promoted the claims.

Fox News settled their defamation lawsuit in 2023, agreeing to pay Dominion more than $787 million for repeatedly broadcasting false accusations about the company.

In 2024, some of Trump's supporters, including X owner Elon Musk, have continued to cast doubt on the integrity of voting machines and called for them to be banned.

Voting machines are tested both before and after votes are cast to ensure they are working properly, said Derek Tisler, counsel in the Brennan Center's Elections and Government Program.

Tisler said one of the most important election security safeguards is a paper record of the vote. Implementing a paper record has been a priority for states since 2016, he said, and around 98% of votes cast in the 2024 election will have a paper trail.

"Election officials will review a sample of these paper records after the election to confirm voting machine tallies," Tisler said. "And if there is any reason to suspect an issue with voting machines, they can fall back on these paper records to determine an accurate count."

Experts also acknowledge that voting machines have potential vulnerabilities and, like any technology, should be updated and reviewed for security improvements.

The "gold standard protection" for Americans are hand-marked paper ballots, according to J. Alex Halderman, an election security expert and professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan. Halderman said about 70% of the country votes via hand-marked paper ballots.

Tisler said issues like frozen screens or jammed ballot scanners are much more likely to happen than any type of "malicious" interference or hacking. He also said voters can unknowingly make the wrong selections on touch-screens.

"When I accidentally have a typo in a text that I send, I don't assume immediately that my phone has been hacked, and I would encourage the same sort of patience and understanding with voters," Tisler said.

Experts said it's imperative for voters to check their ballots and confirm all selections are correct before casting it. And voters should remember that election officials have a plan in place to deal with issues and ensure your vote is counted.

Layla Ferris is a verification producer with CBS News Confirmed. She previously worked at ABC News and Storyful. She specializes in breaking news coverage, visual verification and open-source research.

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