On the first day of Kentucky’s no-excuse early voting, a video of a person in Laurel County attempting to vote spread quickly on right-wing media accounts.
The person appears to repeatedly click on the bubble next to former President Donald Trump’s name using a ballot marking device, but to no avail. Instead the bubble beside Vice President Kamala Harris’s name appears to fill after multiple clicks.
The Laurel County Clerk’s Office said in a statement that they checked the machine, but “couldn’t make it recreate the incident reported.” Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office recommended they remove the potentially malfunctioning machine and replace it.
“We had no complaints prior to or after the complaint. We have left the machine in full view and are awaiting further directions,” the clerk’s office said.
The attorney general’s spokesperson Kevin Grout said detectives have been in touch with the clerk’s office.
“Voters in Laurel County and across Kentucky can have confidence that our elections are secure and any potential issues will be addressed quickly,” Grout said.
It’s a sentiment echoed by the Kentucky Secretary of State’s spokesperson Michon Lindstrom who said they confirmed the incident was “voter error.”
Regardless, the video was widely shared on social media platforms beginning Thursday afternoon with commenters claiming it’s evidence of voter fraud. Stephen Knipper, who ran in the primaries against current Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams and an active election denier, replied to the video saying, “It will all be known soon…. This isn’t 2020.”
James Young, former Elections Director for Jefferson County, said those who watch the video closely will notice the voter attempting to click the tiny bubble at the very edge of the box instead of the box itself. Young said the same issue would not have occurred had the voter clicked in the middle of the text box. He said the spread of videos like this are an attempt to confuse upset voters and sow doubt in U.S. elections.
“Our voting machines are safe to use. This particular device is used across the Commonwealth, and I think almost 30 counties across Kentucky,” Young said.
Young noted that the machine in the video is actually a ballot marking device, which not only asks a person to verify their selections, but also prints out a paper ballot.
“We have auditable elections, even in the counties that require you to use that particular device,” Young said. “This video should be ruled out as an outlier and as something that is intended to confuse voters in Kentucky and across the country.”
The video and the ensuing conspiracy theories appearing on social media are reminiscent of claims of voter fraud, particularly alleged “vote flipping,” when Trump claimed the election was “stolen” from him after he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020. Trump has still refused to acknowledge his loss.
Adams, who was secretary of state in 2020 as well, remained steadfast, assuring Kentuckians in the integrity of the state’s elections.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
