Post falsely claims Jimmy Carter voted for Harris by Oct. 4 | Fact check
The claim: Jimmy Carter voted for Kamala Harris on Oct. 4
An Oct. 4 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes a photo of former President Jimmy Carter at his 100th birthday celebration in Georgia.
"Former President Jimmy Carter just voted for Kamala Harris," reads the post, which is a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter. "I mean, you gotta be kidding me at this point."
The post was liked more than 19,000 times in four days.
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Our rating: False
Carter could not have voted on or before Oct. 4, as the post claims. Absentee ballots in Georgia, where the former president lives, were scheduled to go out Oct. 7. Early in-person voting was scheduled to start Oct. 15.
Carter intends to vote for Harris, family has said
Jimmy Carter turned 100 on Oct. 1 in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he remains in hospice care. The former president's family has said he intends to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election.
"I asked him two months ago if he was trying to live to be 100, and he said, 'No, I’m trying to live to vote for Kamala Harris,'" Jimmy Carter's son, Chip Carter, told The Associated Press in an Oct. 1 article covering the former president's centennial birthday.
But Jimmy Carter couldn't have already cast his ballot at the time the Instagram post was made on Oct. 4.
Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Georgia's secretary of state, told USA TODAY that "no ballots except for overseas citizens or military personnel" had been sent out by Oct. 4. Sinners said absentee ballots were scheduled to be mailed the week of Oct. 7, and early in-person voting was scheduled to start Oct. 15.
Barbara Ann Luttrell, a spokesperson for the Carter Center, also noted in an email that Jimmy Carter could not have voted on or before Oct. 4, as absentee ballots in Georgia were scheduled to be mailed starting Oct. 7.
Those dates are in line with deadlines listed in the 2024 election calendar from the Georgia Secretary of State's office.
Fact check: Announcement of Jimmy Carter's death is fabricated, but fooled many
Ballots for voters covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act were scheduled to be mailed or transmitted starting Sept. 17. The law applies to active duty members of the uniformed services who are living away from home, as well as family members who are "absent due to the member's active duty or service," according to the U.S. Department of Justice's website. It also applies to eligible U.S. citizens living abroad.
Registered voters in Georgia can also request to vote by mail by absentee ballot without an excuse, according to the state's website. County registrars were scheduled to begin sending these ballots to voters starting Oct. 7.
The first day of early in-person voting in Georgia is Oct. 15.
USA TODAY has debunked numerous claims related to the 2024 presidential election, including false assertions that one-time supporters of former President Donald Trump in a Harris campaign ad are Democratic actors, that a video shows Trump's college report card and that Harris used a teleprompter during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
Robert Sinners, Oct. 4, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Barbara Ann Luttrell, Oct. 7, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Georgia Office of the Secretary of State Elections Division, Jan. 12, 2024 ELECTION CALENDAR AND HIGHLIGHTS
Georgia.gov, accessed Oct. 4, Early In-Person Voting Begins for the General Election
Georgia.gov, accessed Oct. 7, First Day Registrars May Mail Absentee Ballots for General Election
Georgia Secretary of State, accessed Oct. 4, How-to Guide: Voting
U.S. Department of Justice, accessed Oct. 7, The Uniformed And Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
The Associated Press, Oct. 1, Jimmy Carter and his hometown of Plains celebrate the 39th president’s 100th birthday
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post wrongly claims Jimmy Carter had already voted Oct. 4 | Fact check