FACT FOCUS: Social media posts falsely claim ballots marked by a poll worker will be disqualified

As early voting begins in the 2026 midterm elections, social media users are claiming that if a poll worker marks a ballot it will be disqualified.

Posts making the claim have spread on multiple platforms, often with the same text. “A very reliable good friend of mine just finished the pollworker training, and she texted to this to me,” they begin. They then go on to advise: “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."

The posts conclude: “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."

But some jurisdictions require poll workers to mark ballots and election officials say that ballots will not be disqualified because of this.

Here's a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Ballots marked by poll workers will be disqualified in the 2026 midterm elections.

THE FACTS: Voting procedures vary by jurisdiction, but it is not unheard for poll workers to mark ballots as part of the process. There are multiple reasons a poll worker might write on a ballot, according to election officials in multiple states. Experts advise voters to check what the rules are in their district and to avoid making stray marks of their own.

“I always like to say, get your facts straight from the source, and the source is your local election official," said Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group focused on election technology. “Not your friends, cousin, uncle, on Facebook.”

Smith encouraged voters to seek out information on the websites or social media accounts of those officials. She also suggested asking a poll worker who marks a ballot why they've done so if a voter has concerns.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections explains on its website that “election workers write on ballots for different reasons as required by law” and that “this in no way affects whether your ballot will be counted.” For example, most counties have workers write “P” for provisional or “A” for absentee in a box in the upper left corner of a ballot so that they can be identified if they are put into a tabulator instead of sealed in an envelope as they are supposed to be.

These markings may include a number on the ballots of mail-in or early voters that allow officials to retrieve them if they are challenged later on. Some poll workers are instructed to write precinct names on ballots in preparation for postelection sorting.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett said in a statement responding to the viral post that “in Tennessee, a ballot is not disqualified simply because an election official or poll worker makes an administrative notation on it.” He called the claim spreading online “incorrect.”

The Illinois State Board of Elections also quashed the rumors.

“FACT CHECK: Under Illinois law, election judges must initial ballots before issuing them to voters,” the agency wrote in an X post . “These initials are an important safeguard and will NOT disqualify your ballot.”

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck .