Is your ballot disqualified if poll workers mark it? Here’s the truth

Early voting in the U.S. midterm elections is underway. Voters are deciding which party will control Congress, as well as numerous state legislatures and governors’ offices. Snopes’ fact-checkers are flagging rumors surrounding the election, debunking false statements by candidates and suspicious voter fraud claims with nonpartisan research and expert sources. Join our effort to keep this election fact-focused by becoming a Snopes member.

Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, some social media users are warning that any election ballot marked by a poll worker could be disqualified, whether it is “a letter, a checkmark, a star, an R or a D any writing of any kind.” 

The rumor has spread on numerous occasions. Snopes addressed the claim before both the 2020 and 2024 elections. Posts typically feature the same copypasta, shown below (emphasis ours):

A very reliable good friend of mine just finished the pollworker training, and she texted this to me …..”Just finished Poll Manager training! I passed all the classes. I want you all to know something…when you are checking in at the polls and they happen to write anything on your ballot before they give it to you to put in the voting machine…a letter, a checkmark, a letter star, an R or a D any writing of any kind…please request a new ballot. Your ballot will be disqualified if it is written on. Please be on the look out. Make sure poll workers do not write on your ballot. It will cause your ballot to be disqualified.” 

Please forward this to everyone you know. Make sure poll workers do not write on your ballot. It will cause your ballot to be disqualified.

(Facebook)

The rumor is not true. Many election officials have clarified that a poll worker marking a ballot does not disqualify it. It was not possible to find any evidence of a U.S. state disqualifying ballots containing markings, unless it renders the voter’s selections unreadable. Several states (such as North Carolina) actually require poll workers to mark ballots as part of the verification process.

Ben Hovland, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in 2020 and 2024, said via phone call: “The way the equipment is programmed — it’s looking for the oval to be filled out in the specific slots where it would be suspecting it. A stray mark is unlikely to do that and there are other safeguards to ensure the voter’s intent is reflected.” He also reportedly told Reuters in 2024 that some marks poll workers add are acceptable and that rules regarding markings usually have to do with the voter’s identity.

When addressing the rumor ahead of previous elections, we spoke to several officials who confirmed the rumor is false.

Spokespeople for the Maryland State Board of Elections and Maine’s Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions said the claim is misleading. Laws governing elections in Minnesota, Missouri (PDF page 108, Section 2 of “Counting of Votes”) and Texas (PDF Page 7) also require poll workers to mark ballots.

Debra O’Malley, communications director for the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth in Massachusetts, told Snopes in 2020 (detail in brackets ours): 

There is no reason any poll worker [in Massachusetts] would ever mark anything on a ballot, with the very rare exception of a challenged ballot. If a ballot is challenged for legal cause, the voter’s name and address, as well as the challenger’s, are written on the ballot to be reviewed only in the case of a recount or court order. Again, this is very rare.

She continued: “Ballots are not disqualified at the polling place. If a tabulator cannot read a ballot, the voter is offered a new ballot. If they do not want to spoil their ballot, it is set aside to be counted by hand at the end of the night.” 

Speaking via email in October 2026, O’Malley said: “Nothing has changed since 2020.”

She also noted that only mail-in or early ballots could be rejected by local election officials based on what the outside of the ballot envelope looked like and in accordance with the voter’s apparent intent “before the envelope is ever opened.”

Sources