Update: After Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown said the error on a ballot marking device could not be recreated, he later posted a statement saying that, after multiple attempts, “it did occur” when clicking on the area between boxes. He said they could not again recreate the error, however. Brown said in the post that there have been no complaints before about the machine and “none since it went back into service.”
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 an initial statement Thursday 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. Later that night, the clerk said after several attempts, the error did occur “by hitting some area in between the boxes.”
“(The machine) remained at its location in the vote center and was set face down until the representative from the Attorney General’s Office arrived to investigate,” the clerk’s office said. “There were no claims of any issues with the device prior, and none since it went back into service. The voter who posted the video did cast her ballot which she said was correct.”
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.
Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown said in the Facebook post that he strives “to have accurate, secure and safe elections.”
“I hope all can get to the polls and make your voice heard November 5th,” Brown wrote.
This story has been updated.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
