Tag: Switched

A viral Reddit post accusing Republicans of switching votes in Nevada from Vice President Kamala Harris to President-elect Donald Trump has been viewed thousands of times but is false, according to state election officials and a Nevada Independent analysis.

The post, among the most widely viewed on a forum focused on casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2024 elections, analyzed early vote totals to allege nebulously that Republicans used “advanced technology” to switch votes in Clark County from Harris to Trump during the tabulation stage of the vote counting process.

However, the post “features many inaccurate interpretations of the publicly available data,” according to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, and fails to account for other factors that easily explain certain highlighted disparities in voting data.

The post, which has garnered nearly 3,000 “upvotes” and more than 600 comments in support, reveals how misinformation continues to surround the validity of American elections, even into 2024. False claims of widespread election fraud exploded in 2020 after Trump and his GOP allies launched an effort to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden, including in Nevada, which culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

There have been significantly fewer claims of widespread voter fraud in 2024 than in 2020, with few top politicians and candidates disputing the results of the elections. But some residents of Clark and Washoe counties have urged officials to not certify the election results based on false claims that the results were rigged against Republicans such as Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown, who lost to Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV). 

Nevada certified its electoral votes for Trump in December, and Congress certified the election for the former president last week.

State officials have continually emphasized that the 2024 elections were secure, and a post-election audit conducted by the state concluded that voting machines worked correctly.

Breaking down the claims

The accusations in the Reddit post stem from an analysis of Clark County early voting data that shows certain tabulation machines — which are used to count large numbers of ballots — had particularly high shares of Trump votes. The post alleged that the absence of tabulators with even shares of Trump and Harris voters was proof of “abnormal vote switching” that “artificially inflated” Trump’s votes, though it did not explain how exactly this might have occurred. The poster, who described themselves as an anonymous “Analyst and Risk Specialist,” did not respond to a request for comment.

In the early voting period, Clark County used 964 tabulation machines, which are housed at county election offices and are used to count large numbers of ballots electronically. In-person voters in Clark County use a Dominion voting machine that stores votes on a flash drive. After a person votes, a paper is printed out that shows the person’s ballot selections. After polls close at the end of the day, the flash drives are removed, taken to the election board and inserted into a Dominion tabulation machine. A county spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

However, a Nevada Independent analysis of the same publicly available data found that the disparities in certain ballot counting machines can be explained by where the votes originated.

Early votes processed through 27 tabulation machines in the county had a makeup of at least 75 percent Trump votes (totaling nearly 10,000 votes), but almost all of these votes were cast at 60 separate precincts in Republican-heavy areas, The Indy found. 

Across these precincts, three times as many Republicans voted early as Democrats, and at the time of the election, there were 23,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in a pool of about 160,000 voters, according to Clark County voter data.

Additionally, across tabulators where Trump had a smaller advantage (winning 50 percent to 70 percent of the vote), almost all of those ballots came from precincts where Republicans cast about double the number of early votes as Democrats.

The post also claimed that tabulation machines with fewer ballots processed were not interfered with, but “significant irregularities emerged” among machines that processed higher volumes.

However, the ballots processed by the most heavily used machines also tended to come from red-leaning areas, The Indy found. Almost all of the ballots processed by the 20 most frequently used machines originated from 260 separate precincts. Across these precincts, the early vote share was 44 percent Republican and 27 percent Democratic.

Additionally, the ballot tabulation protocols in Nevada are designed to prevent manipulation.

The state requires that tabulation equipment be tested immediately before the start of the counting of ballots, and within one day after the count occurs. If any errors are found — which could include results being inaccurately reported — the cause must be identified before the tabulation machine can continue processing ballots.

Election machines are also routinely examined before, during and after voting for unauthorized access, which involves examining whether security seals have been tampered with. Local election officials also conduct accuracy testing before and after elections to ensure that all contests are correctly reflected on voting machines, all parts of the ballot can be voted on and the results are accurately tabulated and reported.

The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office provided The Indy its response to those who reached out with concerns about election irregularities cited in the post. The office said that different tabulators are used for early and Election Day voting, and the post does not “take common election administration factors into account,” including the time of the tabulation.

The office also noted that it will continue to review election-related questions to identify if further investigations are necessary.