Fact check: Video shows misuse of NY ballot marker, not a malfunctioning vote tabulator

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Post implies there was wrongdoing in a rejected New York ballot

On Election Day, 20% of voting centers in Arizona's Maricopa County dealt with glitching voting tabulators. Social media users are implying something similar happened during early voting in New York.

"I just tried to vote and this happened," reads the text at the beginning of a video shared on Instagram. "I clearly marked Lee Zeldin for governor. I go and scan my ballot and it fails to read the ballot. Poll worker tells me to take the ballot back and darken the circles. I did even tho (sic) they were fine. I go and scan the ballot again and it says the ballot has already been scanned."

The Nov. 5 video shows a man inserting his ballot into a machine. The screen says his ballot has already been marked, then tells him he has not chosen a governor on his ballot. The man shows his ballot onscreen, where he has filled in the circle next to Zeldin's name.

"Video submitted on FB and supplied by @jonb819 shows machine reject his ballot," reads the post's caption. "Document your vote. You may need it. Anyone else discover any issues while early voting?"

One comment under the post alleges the video is tied to a Democratic "voter fraud scheme operation running in every single state in all of the big cities."

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The video does show a machine rejecting a ballot, but only because the voter was trying to use the wrong machine. The man was attempting to use an AutoMARK machine, which marks ballots for people with physical disabilities and language barriers, thinking it was a ballot tabulator. A spokesperson for the company that makes the machine said it doesn't work when fed handwritten ballots.

The post garnered more than 30 likes in five days. A similar version on Instagram garnered more than 1,000 likes in five days, but the caption was updated to clarify that the man had not been using a vote tabulator.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment.

Video shows ballot marking machine

Election Systems & Software produces a ballot marking machine called AutoMARK.

The machine provides "privacy and accessibility" to voters who are blind or visually impaired, have a language barrier, have hand-dexterity issues or have any other condition that would impair their ability to mark a ballot, according to the New York State Board of Elections.

Fact check: Washington voting website only allows you to mark and print your ballot, not cast a vote

"The social media post appears to show a New York voter attempting to place a hand-marked ballot, which is a ballot marked with a pen or pencil, into an AutoMark," Katina Granger, a spokesperson for Election Systems & Software, told USA TODAY via email. "It is not a ballot tabulator. Voters using this device should receive an unmarked ballot from the poll worker, which voters use to mark their ballot."

Granger explained that if a voter places a hand-marked ballot into the machine, it will alert the voter that the ballot has already been marked.

After using the AutoMARK machine to mark your ballot, you must still bring it to another machine to cast your vote, according to the New York City Board of Elections website.

This claim was debunked by PolitiFact and AP News as well.

Our rating: Missing context

Based on our research, we rate MISSING CONTEXT the implication that there was wrongdoing in a rejected New York ballot. The person voting in the social media post was using an AutoMARK machine, which marks ballots for people with physical disabilities and language barriers, thinking it was a ballot tabulator. A spokesperson for the company that makes the machine said the machine doesn't work when fed handwritten ballots.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Video shows a voting error in NYC, not election fraud