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Be Aware

Posted by Skye User icon on October 17, 2026, 10:48 am
Valued Poster

“A very reliable good friend of mine just finished the pollworker training, and she texted this to me…...."Just finished Poll Manager training! | passed all the classes. I want you all to know something...when you are checking in at the polls and they happen to write anything on your ballot before they give it to you to put in the voting machine...a letter, a checkmark, a letter star, an R or a D any writing of any kind...please request a new ballot. Your ballot will be disqualified if it is written on. Please be on the look out. Make sure poll workers do not write on your ballot. It will cause your ballot to be disqualified."
Please forward this to everyone you know Make sure poll workers do not write on your ballot. It will cause your ballot to be disqualified.“

Why would it be disqualified? Snopes & multiple sources say this is untrue.

Posted by Sia User icon on October 17, 2026, 11:39 am, in reply to "Be Aware"
ADMIN

People accidentally make marks on them and there are write in spaces.

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/not-all-markings-ballot-make-it-invalid-election-official-says-2024-10-24/

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ballot-disqualified-poll-workers/

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-10-15/fact-focus-social-media-posts-falsely-claim-ballots-marked-by-a-poll-worker-will-be-disqualified

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/election-officials-debunk-persistent-false-claim-poll-workers-ballots-rcna603676

In a world where you can be anything, choose to be kind.

Why would anyone do that?

Posted by greenman User icon on October 17, 2026, 11:02 am, in reply to "Be Aware"

Are they teaching poll workers to sabotage ballots, or are there MAGA saboteurs working these jobs?

I know the Trumpsters will do anything to steal this one.

SAY ‘NO’ TO WAR!
RESIST!

I don't know, but...

Posted by Skye User icon on October 17, 2026, 12:16 pm, in reply to "Why would anyone do that?"
Valued Poster

It wouldn't hurt to ask for a clean ballot if you see someone mark something on it. I would think no one should mark anything on it to begin with, except for the voter. It may be a way to flag ballots before they even get counted, and then they could be tampered with.

Sure, it could be and if there's a concern, absolutely ask for another ballot, especially if

Posted by Sia User icon on October 17, 2026, 12:38 pm, in reply to "I don't know, but..."
ADMIN

the election worker doesn't make the same mark on every ballot.

Some places require their initials to prove that it is a legitimate ballot checked by a worker for identity and then against a list of eligible voters. Conceivably, someone COULD steal ballots and wander in when things are super busy to cast a an illegal vote. Doubtful that many, if any, could actually get away with that given the regular watchers and the system of checking identities and getting ballots that everyone has to go through to get in.

Sadly, the claim made by your friend is a rampant internet claim that is wholly untrue.

In a world where you can be anything, choose to be kind.

Well…

Posted by Skye User icon on October 17, 2026, 2:33 pm, in reply to "Sure, it could be and if there's a concern, absolutely ask for another ballot, especially if "
Valued Poster

As best I recall, at our precinct no one marked anything on the ballot before they handed it to me. After I marked my votes, I put it into the machine with the poll worker watching to make sure there wasn’t a problem with it and it registered correctly. If there was a problem and it didn’t register correctly, I assume they may have then taken action to mark the ballot or correct the problem… but not before I put it into the machine. Seems like that would be a good system. ?

I'll admit I haven't seen that done either.

Posted by greenman User icon on October 17, 2026, 3:00 pm, in reply to "Well…"
Valued Poster

We would get the ballot, and then under supervision of a poll worker put it in the box.

I don't remember anyone ever marking anything.

SAY ‘NO’ TO WAR!
RESIST!

Does your ballot box read the card? Ours is just a box and hand counted

Posted by Sia User icon on October 17, 2026, 6:15 pm, in reply to "I'll admit I haven't seen that done either."
ADMIN

It is a small town.

Many red states have small towns without electronic readers too. Those would be the targets of mischief, although hand counters could mark them up too.

The meme claim just doesn't make sense. Partly because it's simply not true.

In a world where you can be anything, choose to be kind.

I think ours does read the printout.

Posted by greenman User icon on October 18, 2026, 8:26 am, in reply to "Does your ballot box read the card? Ours is just a box and hand counted"
Valued Poster

You have to put it in a certain way, if I remember rightly (I know, it hasn't been THAT long since I voted in person!)..

SAY ‘NO’ TO WAR!
RESIST!

Print out? We just get a long paper ballot, fill it out and

Posted by Sia User icon on October 18, 2026, 11:25 am, in reply to "I think ours does read the printout."
ADMIN

fold it back up, then put it in the box any old way. No electronics, no print out.

When the polls close, at least 5 people watch as 3 others open the ballots and record the votes, then pass each ballot to other to record. Then the tabulation are matched up. If all 3 agree, that's the tally. If they don't, they switch places with 3 of the watchers and start over.

Like I said, it's a small town. Less than 2,000 residents and no more than half, if that, are adult voters. So it can easily be done by hand.

Obviously that would be impossible in any large town or city.

In a world where you can be anything, choose to be kind.

We have an electronic table-like machine

Posted by greenman User icon on October 18, 2026, 12:54 pm, in reply to "Print out? We just get a long paper ballot, fill it out and "

..with fold up sides for privacy. It gives you the ballot page-by-page and you vote on a touch screen. As you do it tallies your choices, then at the end prints out a kind of receipt, which you can double-check. You turn that in at the end by feeding it into the ballot machine (for lack of a better term) which tabulates it.

Somewhat complex, but that's how it's done.

SAY ‘NO’ TO WAR!
RESIST!

Seems to me…

Posted by Skye User icon on October 17, 2026, 6:29 pm, in reply to "Does your ballot box read the card? Ours is just a box and hand counted"
Valued Poster

It COULD be true… at least for some locations.

Well, perhaps, but every legitimate source says it is not true

Posted by Sia User icon on October 17, 2026, 9:58 pm, in reply to "Seems to me…"
ADMIN

So there's that.

In a world where you can be anything, choose to be kind.

Yes

Posted by Skye User icon on October 17, 2026, 6:24 pm, in reply to "Does your ballot box read the card? Ours is just a box and hand counted"
Valued Poster

Right there on the spot.

All I’m saying is…

Posted by Skye User icon on October 17, 2026, 4:06 pm, in reply to "I'll admit I haven't seen that done either."
Valued Poster

It would seem to make sense to me… if the ballot is clean and doesn’t get rejected for not being clean… it’s all good. If it gets rejected for any reason, it would spit back out, the poll worker could mark it to show it is not valid and then give you another clean ballot to try again. No? What am I missing here? Do different polls operate differently?

What I'm trying to say is your friend repeated an internet meme almost word for word and it is false

Posted by Sia User icon on October 17, 2026, 2:53 pm, in reply to "Well…"
ADMIN

I'm not talking about what happens at your precinct. I'm talking about the claim your friend and millions of others are making that marks on the ballots somehow automatically kicks them out as invalid. Marks or letters on ballots does NOT result in automatic rejection.

In a world where you can be anything, choose to be kind.

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