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With early voting underway, false and misleading reports have emerged online.

15 minute read

A steady stream of false and misleading information is circulating online around the 2024 election. A Kentucky voting machine that registered a vote for Vice President Kamala Harris when the voter meant to select former President Donald Trump has been found to be user error, not fraud, according to officials in Laurel County, where the issue occurred. A video circulating widely on social media that shows a man who says he is a Haitian immigrant claiming he is planning to vote multiple times in Georgia is fake. U.S. intelligence officials confirmed on Friday that the video is the work of Russian influence creators.

Here’s a look at the facts.

CLAIM: A video showing a ballot marking machine in Laurel County, Kentucky, that marks Vice President Kamala Harris when the voter tries to select former President Donald Trump is proof of fraud.

THE FACTS: That’s false. This was an isolated incident caused by user error, according to Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown. He wrote on Facebook that officials were able to recreate the incident when pressing the areas in between boxes with candidate’s names. But voters are supposed to press the middle of the box to make their selection.

The machine was taken out of service until the Kentucky attorney general’s office investigated, according to Brown, and its use has since resumed. He added that there have been no other complaints about the machine — before or after the incident — and that the voter in the video said she was able to cast a ballot for her preferred candidate.

In the video, someone off camera tries to vote for Trump by pressing a small square in the top-left corner of a larger box with his name. Harris’ name is highlighted in green on the seventh attempt, indicating that it has been selected instead.

Posts claiming that the video shows election interference received hundreds of thousands of likes and shares on multiple social media platforms.

Brown originally wrote Thursday afternoon that officials had been unable to recreate the incident and that the machine had been taken out of service, but left in full view, until a representative from the Kentucky attorney general’s office could investigate. He explained in a follow-up post about three hours later that the incident was replicated following the representative’s arrival, but could not be recreated more than once.

The follow-up post contained a video showing how voters should make their selection. The correct candidate’s name is highlighted in green when the middle of each box is pressed. In a third post on Friday, Brown shared a video of himself demonstrating the entire process of how to use a ballot marking machine correctly.

“Don’t go to the side and hit this tiny box in the side in the corner because it won’t work that way,” he cautions.

Voters only use the machine to create their ballot, which is then fed into a separate vote scanner. They are asked to confirm their selections before the ballot is printed. If a voter realizes they made a mistake after the ballot prints, Kentucky law allows them to spoil it and receive another. Each voter can spoil up to two ballots.

James Young, a former Louisville elections director, confirmed in an X post that the video “does not depict any fraudulent activity or ‘voting flipping.’”

— Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this item.

CLAIM: A video shows a Haitian immigrant talking about how he’s intending to vote multiple times in two Georgia counties for Vice President Kamala Harris.

THE FACTS: The video is “obviously fake,” and likely the product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election,” according to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

“This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election,” he said. He added that his office is working with federal and state partners, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, to combat the disinformation and identify its origin.

Intelligence officials confirmed on Friday that the video was manufactured by “Russian influence actors” and was part of “Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans.”

The intelligence community expects Russia, in the days before the election and weeks and months after, “to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans,” said the joint statement from the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s visit to metro Atlanta Sunday drew hundreds to local spots in Jonesboro and Sandy Springs, urging Georgia voters to turn out for the early vote.

About 100 residents in Clayton County gathered on the rooftop of Nouveau at Broad Street around noon to attend Emhoff’s first stop in Jonesboro, where Kamala Harris’ sister Maya Harris also made an appearance. Emhoff made several more stops at a local brewery in Sandy Springs, a pizza shop in midtown Atlanta and the campaign’s field office in Decatur that brought hundreds more out to back the Harris-Walz ticket.

“We’re nine days out and this is not only the most important election of our lifetimes,” Emhoff said in Jonesboro. “This is the most important election for the history of our nation.”

Maya Harris reminded attendees in Jonesboro of her and her sister’s upbringing in a middle class family, learning the importance of not just getting your foot in the door but getting ahead.

“We were raised to believe that every American deserves not only to find a good paying job but be able to buy a home and start a business,” she said. “You deserve to build wealth, to have something to pass down to your children, to live in a prosperous community.”

Ashley Ahn

Emhoff urged voters on the fence and young voters to do their research and determine for themselves what kind of future they want.

“The other side is just trying to put all this noise and gaslighting and misinformation,” he said. “Just look at him. He’s falling apart… Just listen to what he’s saying.”

Many Georgia residents who attended the events were parents and grandparents, fearful of what another Trump presidency could look like for their children and grandchildren.

Shon Murphy, 51, of Jonesboro, said she cast her ballot on the second day of early voting. A mother of three daughters, Murphy said Harris’ policy on reproductive rights is crucial for her daughters and four grandchildren.

Kristine Medea, 60, of Lake Spivey, added she is concerned that her 12-year-old granddaughter will not have the same reproductive rights as she did growing up if Trump is elected.

“It’s disturbing to think that my grandchild might see someone in leadership who is a felon, sexual assault [offender],” she said. “I want her to have a choice, look up to someone who believes in her rights.”

Ashley Ahn

Emhoff blamed Trump for the “chilling of free speech” as major newspapers including the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times decide not to endorse a presidential candidate just days before the election. He called the decisions laid down by the newspapers’ billionaire owners a disturbing preview to what the future of the country could look like under another Trump presidency.

“People in the media [are] afraid to do something because there is a chilling effect,” he said. “We cannot live like that.”

After visiting Jonesboro and Sandy Springs, Emhoff made a stop at the Triple Jays Pizza Bar in Midtown Atlanta where he picked up six pizzas and later delivered them to volunteers at the campaign’s field office in Decatur.

“The folks who haven’t made up their minds, we gotta get to them,” Emhoff said to volunteers. “The more doors you knock on, it can make a difference and it can swing the whole election.”

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Team Trump Georgia Communications Director Morgan Ackley called Emhoff’s visit to the battleground state a fruitless endeavor.

“His visit to the state will not hide the fact that Georgians are still suffering from nearly four years of Kamala Harris’ disastrous agenda,” Ackley said.

But for some Georgia voters, Trump winning the election in 2016 and refusing to accept the outcome of the 2020 election spurred them into action.

“The thing that bothered me the most was the insurrection,” Murphy said. “I don’t want to support that. You go against the constitution and you’re not punished.”

Cheryl Lipton, 55, of Sandy Springs said after Trump won the presidency in 2016, she has seen more division and polarization in metro Atlanta, largely driven by misinformation from Trump and unreliable news sources.

“It’s scary people do not have all the facts and they’re listening to all that fake news,” she said.

She added, “It’s about preserving democracy. I didn’t have to say that before this election.”