Detroit voters were not told at polls that they had already voted

On the afternoon of Election Day, former President Donald Trump suggested that problems at polling places in Michigan’s largest city, a Democratic stronghold, were preventing voters from casting their ballots — a claim that elections officials immediately rejected.

"The Absentee Ballot situation in Detroit is REALLY BAD," Trump wrote in a Nov. 8 post on Truth Social. "People are showing up to Vote only to be told, ‘sorry, you have already voted.’ This is happening in large numbers, elsewhere as well. Protest, Protest, Protest!" The post was also reshared widely across other social media platforms. 

An hour later, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson replied on Twitter to Trump’s claim, saying, "This isn’t true. Please don’t spread lies to foment or encourage political violence in our state. Or anywhere. Thanks."

In some Detroit precincts, computers used by election workers signaled that some ballots about to be given to voters had already been issued as absentee ballots. 

The computer error did not mean those voters had already voted.

"No voter was turned away," Michigan secretary of state spokesperson Jake Rollow told PolitiFact. "They weren’t told that they already voted absentee and they weren’t turned away." He said the glitch affected a small number of voters, though the exact number has not yet been determined.

Here’s how Rollow explained what happened:

A voter presented identification to an election worker, who entered that information into a laptop computer known as an electronic pollbook. 

The pollbook indicated that the person was registered to vote and had neither been issued nor had cast an absentee ballot. 

When the worker entered the number of the ballot to be given to the voter, the pollbook erroneously indicated that the ballot had already been issued absentee. 

To work around the problem, the election worker added a letter to the number on the ballot, so the pollbook would process the ballot. The voter was then given the ballot to cast.

"In all circumstances, eligible voters were able to vote," the Michigan Department of State said in a statement on the night of Nov. 8.

The Detroit Department of Elections also issued a statement calling the problem "a harmless data error."

Matt Friedman, the department’s spokesperson, told PolitiFact the problem caused longer wait times in at least three precincts during the early morning hours, until the issue was resolved.

Featured Fact-check

Michelle Obama

stated on August 17, 2020 in a Democratic convention speech

“In one of the states that determined the outcome” of the 2016 presidential race, “the winning margin averaged out to just two votes per precinct, two votes.”

"We may not know how many voters and precincts this affected for a while because the system worked — the backup plan went into effect and voters voted as planned," he said.

We didn’t receive replies to our emails to Trump’s spokespeople.

Trump claimed that in Detroit, "People are showing up to Vote only to be told, ‘sorry, you have already voted.’" 

Election officials said a computer glitch wrongly signaled that ballots about to be given to some Detroit voters at the polls had already been issued as absentee. The computer error did not mean the voters themselves had already cast absentee ballots. 

Election officials said poll workers were able to work around the errors, and all eligible voters were able to cast their ballots.

We rate Trump’s claim False.

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