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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on August 20, 2020 in a Facebook post: “If I mail in my ballot on Sunday and show up to the polling station on Tuesday, they won’t know if I’ve already voted or not. That, my friends, is a serious concern for all of us.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") * Elections * Facebook Fact-checks * Facebook posts ![\\"A](\\" A worker processes mailed-in ballots at the King County Elections headquarters in Renton, Wash., on Aug. 5, 2020, from a primary election the day prior. (AP) ![\\"Bill](\\" By Bill McCarthy August 31, 2020 # Don’t believe this Facebook claim. States have procedures to prevent double voting #### If Your Time is short * All states have different procedures in place to prevent double voting, and mail-in ballots are verified before they are counted. * Voting or trying to vote twice is illegal. Experts said signing a mail-in ballot and casting an in-person ballot would be a surefire way to get caught committing voter fraud. * Experts advise sending in vote-by-mail ballots early to be sure they are counted. See the sources for this fact-check A widespread Facebook post wrongly claims that a loophole in mail-in voting would let people cast two ballots without election officials catching on to the scheme. The supposed trick: Vote once by mail, and then a second time in person before the mail-in ballot gets counted. \"This is real,\" says the Aug. 20 post, which has been shared thousands of times on the platform. \"If I mail in my ballot on Sunday and show up to the polling station on Tuesday, they won’t know if I’ve already voted or not. That, my friends, is a serious concern for all of us.\" The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) Like claims that receiving multiple mail ballot applications means voters can return multiple ballots, it’s inaccurate. The Associated Press has debunked the same claim, and elections experts told PolitiFact that every state has procedures to detect and prevent such double voting. \"The entire premise is wrong,\" said Matthew Weil, director of the Elections Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in Washington. \"All states have controls in place specifically to address this,\" added Charles Stewart III, a political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. \"States handle this differently, but the principle is that you only get to vote once.\" How states check to ensure one vote per person Typically, experts said, poll books used for in-person voting will indicate whether you received a vote-by-mail or absentee ballot (there’s no objective difference between the two). What happens when you show up in person depends on the state’s laws and the type of poll book used. In general, experts described a handful of ways election systems would handle the Facebook post’s hypothetical scenario, assuming you are duly registered to vote in the first place: * You show up to vote on Tuesday. The poll worker notes that you were issued a mail-in ballot. You brought the mail-in ballot with you, so you surrender it and vote in person. * You show up to vote on Tuesday. The poll worker notes that you were issued a mail-in ballot. You don’t have your mail-in ballot with you. The poll worker lets you submit a provisional ballot, which election officials count only if the mail-in ballot doesn\'t show up. * You show up to vote on Tuesday. The poll worker notes that you were issued a mail-in ballot. The poll book is electronic, so the poll worker lets you vote in person and updates the book, which notifies the election office that you did so. When your mail-in ballot arrives later, election officials reject it and count the in-person ballot instead. * You show up to vote on Tuesday. The poll worker notes that you were issued a mail-in ballot. The poll book indicates that your ballot has already been accepted for counting and removed from its return envelope. You are not allowed to vote in person. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on August 21, 2024 in publicaciones en redes sociales Videos muestran a Kamala Harris ebria. ![\\"true\\"](\\" rulings/tom_ruling_falso/7afe5367c2d46afca69ca3f17ae24296.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" rulings/tom_ruling_falso.png\\") By Maria Briceño • August 28, 2024 * You show up to vote on Tuesday. The poll worker notes that you were issued a mail-in ballot. The poll book indicates that your ballot has already been accepted for counting and removed from its return envelope. You dispute this and submit a provisional ballot, which election officials count only if the record proves to be erroneous. Some states detail their procedures online. In California, for example, voters who receive vote-by-mail ballots but want to vote in person can hand over their mail-in ballot and vote in person, or fill out a provisional ballot. But in each case, only one vote per person counts. All mail-in ballots require verification before being counted. Matt Dietrich, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections, said mail ballots in Illinois are \"extremely carefully tracked and verified,\" with return envelopes that contain bar codes for the voter’s unique voter ID number. Voter fraud is illegal There are reasons why people who request mail-in ballots might legitimately show up at the polls, said Lorraine Minnite, an associate professor of public policy at Rutgers University, Camden. \"People anticipate needing to vote by mail, and then their plans change and they show up at the polls,\" Minnite said. \"Or sometimes, in the case of people whose memories are failing, they don\'t remember having voted a month or two before an election and proceed to the polls on Election Day, only to find out that they have already voted.\" But as an intentional double-voting scheme, the process described in the Facebook post \"is not a viable loophole,\" Dietrich said. In fact, it’s a surefire way to get caught committing voter fraud. \"This is an easy felony to prove because the voter would be signing his or her name twice — once on the mail ballot and then again at the polling place,\" Dietrich said. Weil, the director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Elections Project, agreed: \"It’s one of the most obvious ways to get caught because you’re not actually casting any ballot that they don’t know about ... You’d be giving them all the evidence they need to show that you double voted.\" Weil said voters hoping to cast their ballots by mail should send them in early, rather than waiting until the Sunday before Election Day, to ensure that they are received on time and counted. **RELATED:How to make sure your ballot is counted this fall** Our ruling A Facebook post said, \"If I mail in my ballot on Sunday and show up to the polling station on Tuesday, they won’t know if I’ve already voted or not.\" That wouldn’t work in practice. All states have procedures in place to prevent double voting, and people who try it are likely to get caught. We rate this Facebook post False. #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Facebook post, Aug. 20, 2020 California Secretary of State, \"Voting at a Polling Place after Applying to Vote by Mail,\" accessed Aug. 28, 2020 Maryland Office of the Attorney General, \"Voting FAQ for 2020​,\" accessed Aug. 28, 2020 Florida Division of Elections, \"Vote-by-Mail,\" accessed Aug. 28, 2020 The Associated Press, \"States have checks in place to prevent voters from voting twice,\" Aug. 27, 2020 PolitiFact, \"How to make sure your ballot is counted this fall,\" Aug. 17, 2020 PolitiFact, \"No, receiving multiple ballot applications doesn’t let you vote more than once,\" Aug. 13, 2020 PolitiFact, \"Donald Trump draws false distinction between absentee, mail-in voting,\" July 31, 2020 PolitiFact, \"No proof of Trump\'s conspiracy theory that millions voted many times,\" April 6, 2018 Phone interview with Matthew Weil, director of the Elections Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Aug. 28, 2020 Email interview with Charles Stewart III, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-director of the CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project, Aug. 28, 2020 Email interview with Lorraine Minnite, associate professor of public policy at Rutgers University, Camden, Aug. 28, 2020 Email interview with Matt Dietrich, public information officer for the Illinois State Board of Elections, Aug. 28, 2020 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Bill McCarthy slide 4 to 6 of 15 ![](\\" ![](\\" Greg Gutfeld stated on June 23, 2022 in a TV segment: No one “with a concealed carry permit ever committed a mass shooting.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 28, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 20, 2022 in an Instagram post: “Gas in Canada is $9.00 a gallon.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 22, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 20, 2022 in an Instagram post: A compilation of images shows what Joe Biden has “done to our country.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 21, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" TikTok posts stated on July 19, 2022 in a TikTok post: An image shows Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in front of a cross with a figurine of former President Donald Trump on it. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 21, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 19, 2022 in an Instagram post: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was “faking being arrested” during an abortion- rights protest outside the Supreme Court. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 20, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on July 15, 2022 in a Facebook post: \"Antifa was already inside the Capitol with floor plans dressed as Trump supporters\" on Jan. 6, 2021, proving the attack “was 100% a setup.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 19, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on July 12, 2022 in a viral image: An image shows an “all aboard the Trump train” truck crashed into a bridge. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 15, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 12, 2022 in Instagram posts: Actor Tom Holland is “confirmed to have died.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 14, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on July 11, 2022 in Facebook posts: Images from Hunter Biden’s laptop show Joe Biden naked with a young girl. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Bill McCarthy • July 13, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 10, 2022 in an Instagram post: Shinzo Abe was assassinated because he “didn’t mandate vaccines, sent 1.6 million doses back and gave citizens ivermectin.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 11, 2022 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on July 7, 2022 in in tweets: An image shows that “following his resignation, Boris Johnson has escaped to the sea.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 8, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on June 30, 2022 in Facebook posts: President Donald Trump was in a presidential limousine as he left his Jan. 6, 2021, rally at the White House Ellipse. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 8, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on July 2, 2022 in a Facebook post: \"Fox offers Chris Wallace\'s Sunday spot to Candace Owens.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 7, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Marjorie Taylor Greene stated on July 5, 2022 in a tweet: Says an image shows the Highland Park shooting suspect \"in jail or rehab or a psychiatric center\" before the shooting. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 5, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on June 28, 2022 in a Facebook post: An image shows a “UFO photographed on June 21, 2014 by the pilot from the cockpit of an F-16 military plane flying near Lackland Air Force Base of the United States located in San Antonio, Texas.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 30, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Greg Gutfeld stated on June 23, 2022 in a TV segment: No one “with a concealed carry permit ever committed a mass shooting.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 28, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 20, 2022 in an Instagram post: “Gas in Canada is $9.00 a gallon.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 22, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 20, 2022 in an Instagram post: A compilation of images shows what Joe Biden has “done to our country.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 21, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" TikTok posts stated on July 19, 2022 in a TikTok post: An image shows Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in front of a cross with a figurine of former President Donald Trump on it. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 21, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 19, 2022 in an Instagram post: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was “faking being arrested” during an abortion- rights protest outside the Supreme Court. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 20, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on July 15, 2022 in a Facebook post: \"Antifa was already inside the Capitol with floor plans dressed as Trump supporters\" on Jan. 6, 2021, proving the attack “was 100% a setup.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 19, 2022 ### Don’t believe this Facebook claim. States have procedures to prevent double voting * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 13, 2024 in a post: Vice President Kamala Harris’ college professors disparaged her as their “worst student.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 17, 2024 in a post: Photo shows Kamala Harris posing beside Sean “Diddy” Combs. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sara Swann • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 18, 2024 in Instagram posts: “BREAKING: Police found ‘explosives’ in car near former President Donald Trump’s rally site on Long Island.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Dave McCormick stated on September 13, 2024 in an X post: Charleroi, Pennsylvania, “has grown by 2,000% due to an influx in migrants.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Caleb McCullough • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 13, 2024 in una publicación en Facebook: \"El gran respaldo de Taylor Swift\" a Kamala Harris \"le cuesta $125 millones en acuerdos de marca\". ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Maria Briceño • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Threads posts stated on September 16, 2024 in an Instagram post: Taylor Swift “lost 17 million followers by endorsing Kamala.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Kari Lake stated on September 13, 2024 in a post on X: Rep. Ruben Gallego’s “first act in Congress was to propose legislation to BAN the use of the term ‘illegal alien.’” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Mia Osmonbekov • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Sherrod Brown stated on September 4, 2024 in a TV interview: Of Bernie Moreno, “Now, he’s arguing for a national abortion ban, no exceptions.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Caleb McCullough • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 16, 2024 in a Facebook post: “Country Music Television (CMT) has announced a permanent boycott of Taylor Swift.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 18, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 11, 2024 in a Facebook post: “Disney World officially moving to Nashville.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 18, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. Become a member! 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If I mail in my ballot on Sunday and show up to the polling station on Tuesday they won’t know if I’ve already voted or not That my friends is a serious concern for all of us