An image shared on X claims 2024 Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump’s name was misspelled on a ballot requested in Norwood, Ohio.
Verdict: False
The claim is false. A spokesperson for the Hamilton County Board of Elections denied the claim’s validity in an email to Check Your Fact.
Fact Check:
Recent polls from Emerson College and The Hill show a close race between Trump and 2024 Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, the outlet reported. Trump and Harris are tied at 48% in Nevada and at 49% in Wisconsin, while Trump leads Harris in North Carolina and Georgia, the outlet indicated.
The X image, viewed over 500 times as of writing, claims Trump’s name was misspelled on a ballot requested in Norwood, Ohio.
“Ballot requested in Norwood, OH (Hamilton County). Trump’s name is misspelled – if you zoom in, a perfectly placed white dot is covering the “m” in his name… Will any of these votes count?!” the image’s caption reads. The same image shows Trump’s name spelled as “Trun.p.”
The claim is false, however. According to Cincinnati.com, the image “may be a hoax.” The outlet spoke with the Hamilton County Board of Elections, who indicated they did not find any evidence of Trump’s name being misspelled on ballots.
“It is impossible for us to tell whether that is a genuine ballot,” Alex Linser, deputy director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections said. “We have not seen any ballots that have that issue. We know that the name is spelled correctly in our system and we haven’t gotten any complaints from a voter,” Linser added. (RELATED: Fact-Checking Trump’s Claim That Thousands Of Illegal Ballots Have Been Cast In Virginia)
Likewise, the Hamilton County Board of Elections shared a statement on X, reiterating that the image showing Trump’s name misspelled on the ballot was a “hoax.”
“The Hamilton County Board of Elections is aware of certain images circulating on the platform X, which appear to show a ballot which has been damaged or altered so that a candidate’s name appears misspelled. The images may be a hoax,” the statement read in part.
In addition, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. In fact, the opposite is true. On Nov. 1, PolitiFact debunked the claim. Trump also does not appear to have publicly commented on the claim via his 2024 campaign website or his TRUTH Social account.
Furthermore, Linser denied the claim’s validity in an email to Check Your Fact.
“The Hamilton County Board of Elections is aware of certain images circulating on the platform X, which appear to show a ballot which has been damaged or altered so that a candidate’s name appears misspelled. The images might be a hoax,” Linser said.
“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.
Damage to a candidate’s name on the ballot would not prevent the vote from counting. If a voter does receive a damaged ballot, the voter should call the Hamilton County Board of Elections at 513-632-7000 for assistance,” he added.