Supposed Ohio misprint of Trump may be hoax, wouldn't affect vote tally | Fact check

The claim: Misspelling of Donald Trump’s name on Ohio ballot could invalidate votes

An Oct. 30 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes a picture of a purported ballot in Ohio with part of former President Donald Trump’s last name misprinted, so the m in his last name is not fully visible.

“Double-check your ballot to ensure Donald Trump’s name is spelled correctly; otherwise, it might be flagged as an error by the voting machines,” the post reads in part.

The post was liked more than 400 times in six days. A similar claim was also made on Facebook.

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Our rating: False

A misprinted ballot would not invalidate votes, according to the Hamilton County Board of Elections. The board also said it has not confirmed that the image of a misprinted ballot circulating online is authentic, and it has not directly received any complaints of such errors.

Image circulating online not authenticated

An early version of the image circulating online appears in an Oct. 30 post on X, formerly Twitter. In it, someone claims to be showing a picture of a ballot requested in Norwood, Ohio.

“Trump’s name is misspelled – if you zoom in, a perfectly placed white dot is covering the ‘m’ in his name,” the post reads. “Will any of these votes count?!”

The Hamilton County Board of Elections responded on X, saying the defect appeared to be an error after the ballots were printed but would not affect vote tabulation. The office also said anyone with a ballot they are concerned about could exchange it.

Alexander Linser, deputy director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections, went further, telling USA TODAY that the images of the ballot “might be a hoax.” He went on to say in an emailed statement:

“We have not received any complaints from a voter about a ballot damaged in the manner depicted by the posts. We have also not seen any ballots returned with this type of problem. The only reports we have seen of this type of damaged ballot are those circulating online. Based on those posts, we cannot determine whether the author is a registered voter in Hamilton County or whether the ballot is even a genuine Hamilton County ballot.”

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Election officials in all jurisdictions have processes in place to manually review and count ballots if stray marks make them unreadable for ballot-counting machines.

An image of a sample ballot for Norwood posted to the elections board’s website shows Trump’s name properly spelled.

Claims about difficulties casting votes surged in the runup to Election Day. USA TODAY has addressed claims of early votes being set aside and not counted in Illinois, voting machines switching selections in Georgia and the significance of Trump’s name being misspelled on a screen in Virginia.

USA TODAY reached out to the X user who claimed the ballot image was authentic and the Instagram and Facebook users who shared the claim for comments but did not immediately receive responses.

AFP and Reuters also debunked the claim.

Ohio Election Results 2024: Live updates, maps for every state race

Our fact-check sources:

• Alexander Linser, Nov. 4, Email exchange with USA TODAY

• Hamilton County Board of Elections, accessed Nov. 1, Sample ballot N44120

• Hamilton County Board of Elections, Oct. 30, Post on X

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vote for Trump would count even if Ohio ballot had typo | Fact check