WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas — You may have seen a video shared by Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Bo French , which has racked up millions of views as it's been shared across social media platforms in the wake of early voting's kickoff in Texas.
An edited version of the video shows two men, who both say they voted for Donald Trump for president at the machines at a polling location in White Settlement, Texas, claiming that, when their ballots were printed, they saw Kamala Harris' name marked as their choice instead.
Here’s what we can VERIFY about the speculation over votes being flipped in White Settlement.
THE QUESTION
Are claims of "flipping votes" in Tarrant County a documented, widespread problem or indicative of a few possible isolated incidents?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Ultimately, no. There have been no reports in Tarrant County of any widespread glitches that are changing votes for Donald Trump into votes for Kamala Harris.
WHAT WE FOUND
Our sources are a statement from Tarrant County, a screenshot from the video, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare’s office and the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, which runs the election integrity unit in the county.
According to Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare, more than 101,000 votes have been cast since Monday, the first day of early voting, and only one voter found their choice for president was not correctly marked.
That ballot was spoiled, O'Hare said, and the voter re-marked a new ballot with their preferred choice for president.
This incident was reported to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, according to O'Hare.
In a statement, the county added the following: "Tarrant County’s voting system electronically marks a voter’s candidate selections and prints a final paper ballot for review before the ballot is cast. Tarrant County Elections highly encourages voters to confirm their selections on the physical paper ballot before placing it into the scanner to be counted."
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare’s office stated that the incident that was reported to the Texas Secretary of State is isolated.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, which heads up the election integrity unit for the county, issued the following statement when asked about the alleged incidents in White Settlement: "The Election Integrity Unit has not received any official complaints. The unit will investigate any complaints this office receives."
Finally, Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig shared a video response on Tuesday to the allegations on social media as well. In that clip, Ludwig describes where he thinks things went wrong in the sole reported incident in which a voter said their ballot did not reflect their selection.
"What we believe to have occurred is that the individual did make a selection on the machine, and that selection was printed on their ballot," Ludwig said. "When they went to cast their ballot, they checked it and realized that was not the vote they wanted. This is not uncommon, and there's a practice in place called 'spoiling the ballot' to handle this. The individual notified the lead clerk that they need to spoil their ballot, and he was issued a new ballot and able to vote. Knowing this, you can vote with confidence in Tarrant County."
You can read Tarrant County's full statement on the allegations below:
On the first day of Early Voting, Tarrant County had more than 58,000 ballots cast in the General Election.
In one reported instance, a voter reviewed their printed ballot and found it did not correctly reflect his choice for President. The original ballot was spoiled, and the voter re-marked a new ballot with his preferred choice reflected.
Tarrant County’s voting system electronically marks a voter’s candidate selections and prints a final paper ballot for review before the ballot is cast. Tarrant County Elections highly encourages voters to confirm their selections on the physical paper ballot before placing it into the scanner to be counted.
Tarrant County Elections has no reason to believe that votes are being switched by the voting system.
Additionally, Tarrant County Elections has identified a labeling error for the office of “Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals” on the printed paper ballot. The candidates are being correctly displayed on the screen and the printed ballot. However, “Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals” is labeled as “Railroad Commissioner” on the paper ballot.
This labeling error will not affect the results of either the Railroad Commissioner or the Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals race.
Both of these matters have been reported to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.