FACT CHECK: Did The Voting Issue Described In This Viral Post Happen In Fayette County, Kentucky On Election Day?

Varun Hukeri | General Assignment & Analysis Reporter

An image shared on Facebook claims an election official in Kentucky’s Fayette County told voters on Election Day that the “whole county’s system is down” when it actually wasn’t.

Verdict: False

The screen grabbed post dates back to Oct. 13 and describes an issue that, according to the Fayette County Clerk, was quickly resolved that day, not on Election Day. Local media outlets haven’t reported on issues with Fayette County voting systems on Nov. 3.

Fact Check:

Facebook user Jennifer Clark of Fayette County, Kentucky, detailed what she described as a “sketchy” voting experience in a now-deleted post on Oct. 13, Kentucky’s first day of early voting. The Facebook page Conservative Treehouse posted a screen grab of her post on Election Day, seemingly suggesting the incident occurred Tuesday.

Her Facebook post, in part, read: “Poll workers had us register and gave us paper ballots to fill out (think scan tron). When we went to turn the paper ballot in, the election official said ‘the whole county’s system is down.’ ‘If you leave them with me, I promise I will turn them in for you at the end of the day.’ Um, no… When people objected, she said, ‘Then you’ll have to leave and come back a different day.'” Clark’s post went to say, “Turns out, the system wasn’t down at all. Turns out when everyone waited, the system magically was working after all…”

Actress Kirstie Alley quote tweeted on Tuesday another tweet showing a screen grab of Clark’s post. Lexington Herald Leader political reporter Daniel Desrochers reported in a tweet that Fayette County Clerk Donald Blevins called the tweet “false and misleading.” Blevins also said it was the result of an error by election officers on Oct. 13 that was resolved within 15 minutes, according to Desrochers.

Check Your Fact didn’t find any local media outlets such as the Lexington Herald Leader and WVLK reporting county-wide voting system issues on Election Day. In a statement to local CBS affiliate WKYT, Blevins said that voting went smoothly on Tuesday.

“I feel great, we’re actually doing very well today,” he said, per WKYT. “It’s going to be a nice bow on our package of voting for the last month.” (RELATED: Do Pennsylvania Quarantine Letters Tell People They Can’t Vote On Election Day?)

Check Your Fact has reached out to Blevins for further comment on the alleged encounter and whether there have been any voting issues on Election Day itself, and will update the story accordingly.

Varun Hukeri

General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
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