NEW YORK — Florida election clerks are correcting the record before next week’s state primary because of a false claim that poll workers will throw out ballots that have writing on them.
Clerks in Collier and Escambia counties, which are home to Naples and Pensacola, are telling voters that the warning they may have seen on social media or in text messages is not true and that their ballot markings will not invalidate their votes.
Election officials say the claim, which has been shared online across the country since at least 2020, is an example of the kind of false information that voters often believe, which can hurt trust in the voting process.
The false claim comes at a time when Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, has told his supporters, without any proof, that they should expect poll workers and partisan actors to mess with the results.
Polls show that people have the least faith in election results they have ever had.
The same false claim has spread online — and been debunked — in past years in several states, including Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.
The false claim has been shared on social media as both copied and pasted text and a picture of a text message. It says that it came from a “poll manager” who just finished a course.
“All of you should know this…” At the polls, if someone writes something on your ballot before giving it to you to put in the machine, you could lose your vote. any kind of writing, like a word, a checkmark, a star, an R, or a D… “Please ask for a new ballot,” the false message says. “If you write on your ballot, it might not count.”
That exact claim has been debunked over the years in Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas, among other places. It was made public online.
There may be good reasons for a poll worker to mark a ballot, but it depends on the area.
A new fact-check from the North Carolina State Board of Elections says that in some counties, election workers write voter areas on ballots during early voting so that they can be sorted correctly after the election.
There is also writing of a number on mail-in or early-in-person votes in the state, according to the fact-check. The number lets the ballot be taken out of the running if a voter challenge is successful.
People who work at Florida’s elections are taught not to mark papers. But Escambia County Clerk Robert Bender said that even if they did, it shouldn’t change the outcome of the vote.
Someone wrote a long message to us on their vote, Bender said.
“In certain places, our scanners are looking for marks.” Because of this, if there is a mark in a space, that’s how the voter’s vote is given.
He said that when people in his county get their ballot, they fill it out and take it straight to the person who collects the votes. They can see if their vote is counted and know why. This is something he thinks will build trust.
Bender said he found out about the fake claim when his own poll workers began to inquire about it. He said, “We want to reassure the voters of the integrity of the system and that we strive to make sure their vote gets counted.” He might not have been so quick to fight the false claim if it had been going around in May or June.
Naples is in Collier County, which has also put out information telling voters about the lie and telling them to call their local poll supervisor for correct voting information.
Bender said, “You should get information from your local elections office that you can trust.” “They are here to help the people who voted.” They can tell you what’s going on.
