Kentucky voting machines are REFUSING to let voters select Donald Trump’s name, automatically selecting Kamala Harris instead

Aviral video purports to show a ballot-marking device preventing a voter from selecting Donald Trump on her ballot. In the video, originally posted by user Lisa Dixie20 on TikTok, a voter attempts to select Donald Trump’s name on the device. Despite touching the selection box next to his name several times, the interface highlights Kamala Harris’ name in the box below.

The video has since been shared widely across other social media platforms.

“ELECTION INTERFERENCE: Voters in Kentucky are reporting not being able to select Trump on voting machines,” reads one repost of the video. “DO YOU SEE THAT??? HE CLICKED ON TRUMP AND IT JUMPED TO KAMALA!!!!” says another.

The video is real. However, Kentucky election officials say it is the only such reported instance, and the ballot machine’s manufacturer says the problem was likely due to user error. Thursday marked the first day of general in-person early voting in Kentucky, although excused absentee voters have been able to vote in-person since last Wednesday.

According to an election official in the Laurel County Clerk’s office, a woman alerted officials that the ballot-marking device she had used to vote did not let her choose Donald Trump’s name when making selections. Officials immediately investigated the device, but were unable to replicate the woman’s issue. “The clerk and I went over to check out the machine, and we took a video ourselves showing that the machine is working and it is not flipping votes,” the official told The Dispatch Fact Check. “In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with the equipment.” The officials alerted the woman that the device was working as intended, after which she informed them that she had already posted the now-viral video to TikTok.

The devices used in Laurel County are manufactured by Election Systems & Software (ES&S), a common voting systems provider used widely across the country. Katina Granger, a representative for the company, told The Dispatch Fact Check in an email that the issue in the video was likely due to user error. “Touch screen voting machines do not flip votes. Most commonly, reported instances stem from a voter not touching the text box in the correct place,” Granger said. “In this case, you can see the voter is attempting to touch the tiny check box. They can touch anywhere inside the large box containing the candidate’s name. Actual confirmed cases of voters having issues in touching the correct place on a touch screen are, in fact, rare. Voters can select and re-select candidates at any time prior to printing their ballot.”

The ES&S device also prints a paper ballot that can be reviewed prior to being submitted by a voter. “There is no scenario in which a voter would be forced to cast a ballot that they believe did not reflect their intentions,” Granger explained.

The Laurel County official who spoke to The Dispatch Fact Check said that no other voters in the county, including those who voted using the same machine, had reported similar issues. “Nobody complained before her, nobody complained after her,” he said.

Out of an abundance of caution, Laurel County officials alerted the Kentucky attorney general’s office of the complaint “just to cover all our bases.”

In an email to The Dispatch Fact Check, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office said that voters shouldn’t be worried about the issue. “Detectives have been in touch with the county clerk and recommended they change out the machine,” he wrote. “Voters in Laurel County and across Kentucky can have confidence that our elections are secure and any potential issues will be addressed quickly.”

The Dispatch Fact Check was unable to find any reports of similar issues in other Kentucky counties. Mike Corey, the county clerk for neighboring Knox County, told The Dispatch Fact Check in a call that no issues had been reported so far at any of their polling locations, and a representative for the county clerk’s office in Fayette County, which includes Lexington, said that they were not aware of any issues with their voting machines.