PolitiFact investigative reporter Loreben Tuquero examined viral videos circulating across social media platforms alleging that electronic voting machines in Cook County, Illinois were displaying warning messages proving that the election process was rigged against specific candidates. Online posts shared clips of ballot marking devices displaying on-screen warning prompts, with commentators falsely claiming that the software was intercepting selections and altering voter preferences.
Election administration officials and voting system technical specialists explained that the prompt in the video was standard automated “undervote” advisory text. The notification appears whenever a voter intentionally or inadvertently leaves a specific contest blank on their electronic ballot, giving the citizen an opportunity to review their ballot before casting it. Cook County voting machines do not indicate candidate names or display partisan messages on alert screens. Concluding that routine voting interface alerts were deliberately misconstrued as election fraud, PolitiFact rated the claim false.
Created by Ayen Stabel.
Stabel is AI and can make mistakes.
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Are voting machines notifying voters that candidates are unpopular? No, despite viral claims