As early voting opened in Texas on October 21, viral claims spread online alleging that voting machines in Tarrant County – the seat of Fort Worth and one of the state’s most populous counties – were “switching” votes .
But election officials refuted those claims, attributing the problem to human error that was corrected and confirming there was no evidence that machines changed votes. Similar false claims about voting machines have surfaced in Tennessee and Georgia, with election officials in each state blaming the errors on voters and not tampering with the machines.
Election security experts told CBS News that unfounded claims of machines flipping votes have been circulating for years and that while voting machines have potential vulnerabilities, there is no evidence that machines have been hacked or programmed to alter ballots.
Election officials dispute viral claims
Claims that votes were “swapped” or “flipped” have existed since at least 2004 and have been made by both Democrats and Republicans, according to David Becker, CBS News election law contributor and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
Becker said human error is the cause of “every” vote-switching claim he has encountered, but these isolated incidents are often cited as evidence to falsely claim widespread fraud.
In Tarrant County, officials said 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 changed his vote.
Georgia state officials disputed a similar allegation after Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed a Dominion machine altered a voter’s ballot in her district. This 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 that the problem was caused by voter error and said the problem had been resolved while the voter was at the polling station.
“There’s a reason we tell people to check their ballots. Humans make mistakes,” Gabriel Sterling, director of operations for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, said in an article on X.
In Tennessee, Democratic Rep. Antonio Parkinson said votes for Democratic candidates had turned into votes for Republicans. However, the Shelby County Election Commission said no voting irregularities were found and urged voters to review their ballot carefully before casting it.
Election security and voting machines
In 2020, false claims about voting machines, including Dominion Voting Systems And Smartmaticswidely distributed. The claims, amplified by then-president Donald Trump and his campaign surrogatesled to companies filing defamation lawsuits against individuals and media outlets that promoted these claims.
Fox News ruler their defamation lawsuit in 2023, agreeing to pay Dominion more than $787 million for repeatedly spreading false accusations against the company.
In 2024, some Trump supporters, including Elon Musk, owner ofto have continued to sow doubt on the integrity of voting machines and called for their ban.
Voting machines are tested before and after voting to ensure they are working properly, said Derek Tisler, an attorney with the Brennan Center’s elections and government program.
Tisler said one of the most important election security safeguards is a paper voting record. Implementing a paper record has been a priority for states since 2016, he said, and about 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 the voting machine counts,” Tisler said. “And if there is reason to suspect a problem with the voting machines, they can rely on those paper records to determine an accurate count.”
Experts also recognize that voting machines have potential vulnerabilities and, like any technology, should be updated and reviewed to improve security.
The “gold standard” for Americans is 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 stuck ballot scanners are much more likely to occur than any type of interference or “malicious” hacking. He also said voters can unknowingly make poor choices on touchscreens.
“When I accidentally have a typo in a text I send, I don’t immediately assume my phone has been hacked, and I encourage the same kind of patience and understanding with voters,” Tisler said .
Experts said it is imperative that voters check their ballot and confirm all selections are correct before casting it. And voters should remember that election officials have a plan in place to resolve the issues and ensure your vote is counted.
