Touchscreen voting machines are switching votes in the 2026 midterms
Posts from several states claim touchscreen machines flipped votes during early voting for the November 2026 midterms. Election officials trace the reports to miscalibrated screens and mistaken touches that voters were able to correct, one viral video was spliced from 2014 and 2019 footage, and printed ballots, pre-election testing and audits are designed to catch any machine that records a different choice.
What we know
As early voting for the 3 November 2026 midterm elections got under way, voters in Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas posted that touchscreen voting machines had selected a candidate they did not choose. One of the most widely shared accounts came from Stella Parton, sister of Dolly Parton, who wrote that she had to go back three times to correct her vote near Nashville. Many posts presented such experiences as proof that the machines were rigged to help Republicans. In 2020 the same kind of claim ran in the opposite direction, alleging that machines moved votes to Joe Biden, and Snopes has found versions of the rumor going back to 2008.
The reported difficulties are real, but they are not vote switching. Most of the machines involved are ballot-marking devices: the voter makes selections on a touchscreen, and the machine prints a paper ballot or record that can be reviewed before it is counted. Election officials told the Associated Press that problems on older touchscreens almost always come from screen miscalibration or from touches that land on a neighbouring box. "Nearly every case comes back to the screen calibration on older touchscreen machines, not a change to anyone's vote," said Kristin Miles, president of the Texas Association of County Election Officials. Tennessee's elections coordinator, Mark Goins, described the local reports as "not a vote-flipping situation." Officials in South Carolina said they had seen no unusual rise in such reports, and the manufacturer of the machines named in most posts said it was not aware of any widespread issue this cycle.
A miscalibrated screen does not change votes in secret. The voter sees which name is highlighted, can change it as many times as needed, reviews a summary and, on most devices, can check a printed ballot before casting it. Federal standards require that voters have a chance to verify their choices and correct errors before the ballot is cast. A machine built to cheat would have to show one choice and record another, and that is what voter-verified paper ballots and post-election audits are designed to catch. In 2018 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommended that all US elections use human-readable paper ballots, and officials told AP that most jurisdictions hand count a sample of paper ballots after the election.
The Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington, which tracks election rumors, concluded that the underlying accounts were likely true, but that claims of deliberate rigging had no supporting evidence. Most voters, including Stella Parton, were able to correct their selections before casting their ballots.
Some of the material is simply old. A video posted on X on 21 October 2026 claimed to show a machine refusing to select a Republican. Lead Stories found that it combined footage from a 2019 Mississippi primary runoff, in which both candidates were Republicans, with footage from a 2014 congressional race in Virginia. In 2024, a similar wave of claims in Shelby County, Tennessee, ended with election officials finding no machine malfunction; voters' fingers had touched the wrong part of new, highly sensitive screens.
Officials advise voters to tap the centre of each box, check the review screen and the printed ballot, and ask a poll worker for help if anything looks wrong. A ballot that does not match the voter's choices can be replaced before it is cast.
Common claims
- Machines are switching votes from Democrats to Republicans in the 2026 midterms.False. Officials trace the reports to miscalibrated screens and mistaken touches that voters could correct, and there is no evidence of deliberate switching.
- A viral video shows a machine in 2026 refusing to select a Republican.False. The video combines footage from a 2019 Mississippi runoff and a 2014 Virginia election.
- Voters reporting touchscreen problems are making it up.Not supported. Older touchscreens can be miscalibrated and the accounts are likely genuine. What lacks evidence is the claim that the problems are deliberate.
- A machine can record a different vote from the one shown on screen without anyone noticing.Not supported. Voters can review their choices and, on most devices, a printed ballot, and audits compare paper ballots with machine counts.
- Voting machines are online and can be changed remotely.Not supported. Voting machines are typically not connected to the internet and are tested before each election.
Evidence hierarchy
All sources
- Securing the Vote: Protecting American DemocracyNational Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine · 2018
- Why reported challenges with touchscreen voting machines don't signal election riggingAli Swenson and Melissa Goldin, Associated Press · 2026
- Election Rumor Rundown for October 22: Machines switch votes on Dolly Parton's sister, ballots returned to sendersCenter for an Informed Public, University of Washington · 2026
- Voting machines aren't deliberately switching votes. Here's what's likely happeningSnopes · 2026
- Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Touchscreen Voting Machine Selecting Wrong Candidate From The 2026 ElectionEd Payne, Lead Stories · 2026
- Votes in Shelby County, Tennessee, not swapped by voting machinesPolitiFact · 2024