Fact Check: Are US voting machines changing voters’ choices in the 2026 midterms?

WASHINGTON, DC: As people flocked to the polls for early voting in the 2026 US midterms, claims circulated online that electronic voting machines in the United States were rigged to switch votes from one candidate to another.

Social media posts alleged that voting machines in Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and possibly other states were deliberately changing voters’ candidate selections. Let’s fact-check the claim.

Claim: Voting machines are changing voters' candidate selections

Rumors spread in late October alleging that electronic voting machines across the country were switching votes for Democratic candidates to Republicans in various midterm races.

On October 21, users on Facebook, Threads, X, and other social media platforms shared a copied-and-pasted post that read, "There is a very disturbing trend being seen in early voting. Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Ohio are reporting difficulties getting the machines to accept democratic votes."

The post added, "The machines change them back to Republican unless the voter persists, pressing several times to get the correct vote to go through. Check your machine, check to see that it accepted the correct vote. Make sure your voice counts.

Stella Parton, a sibling of the late country music star Dolly Parton, also alleged in an archived Facebook post that one of her vote selections "kept defaulting to Marsha Blackburn." Blackburn, a longtime Republican US senator from Tennessee, is running for reelection. Parton said, "I would never vote for her for anything," and added, "Don't let them rig this election."

Fact Check: The claim is false

No evidence shows voting machines switched votes from one candidate to another. Election officials said these reports likely resulted from human error or touchscreen alignment problems.

Voting machines undergo extensive testing before elections. In the United States, state and local governments oversee election administration and verify voting equipment accuracy. Voting machines typically operate on closed networks and do not connect to the internet.

All the states mentioned in the claims require officials to test voting equipment publicly before using it in elections.

Although testing rules differ by state, federal standards require voting systems to give voters "an opportunity to verify the votes selected and correct any errors before casting the ballot."

Many of these states also use paper ballots. Voters select their candidates on an electronic machine, which prints a ballot for them to review before they submit it.

Similar claims about voting machines switching votes have circulated in the past. However, no credible evidence has shown that machines changed votes because of software bugs or deliberate election fraud. Available information instead points to possible human error or touchscreen alignment problems.