Trump typo on Virginia voting screen doesn’t affect votes | Fact check

An Oct. 31 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows a woman inserting her ballot into a voting machine. The machine’s screen says, “President and Vice President” at the top, with the name “Donald J. Triump” beneath it.
The post’s caption reads, “ALERT: ELECTION FRAUD IN VIRGINIA!? A voter shows that they have Trump spelled incorrectly as Triump. Is that so votes won’t register for Trump?”
Other versions of the claim were shared on Instagram.
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A Virginia election official said the typo appears on a rarely-used ballot review screen, not on the ballots themselves. It doesn’t affect how people vote since it can’t be seen until after voters make a selection on a paper ballot.
Though the election is still days away, claims about election interference have started circulating online amid early voting. But the video shared on Facebook does not show or prove any sort of “election fraud.”
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The video was filmed in Washington County, Virginia, according to the county’s director of elections and general registrar, Derek Lyall.
He told USA TODAY all Washington County voters cast their votes on paper ballots, where former President Donald Trump’s name is spelled correctly.
“We discovered last week that there is a typographical error on an optional ballot review screen on our voting equipment,” Lyall said. “The ballot review screen is only activated if a voter requests it before inserting their ballot. The review screen displays the choices that the voter selected on their paper ballot.”
Lyall said the typo would not affect anyone’s vote and couldn’t be seen until after the person had made their selection. He also said out of the more than 10,000 voters who had cast their ballots in Washington County, fewer than 20 had chosen to utilize the optional screen.
“Unfortunately, by the time the error was discovered, it was too late to reprogram the voting equipment for the election,” Lyall said. “Our equipment is operating as designed and is tabulating ballots in accordance with voters’ choices. On Election Day, a notice will be posted in each of our polling places advising voters of this error.”
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
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