Fact check: Table shows outdated voter registration numbers for 15 states
By Reuters Staff
13 MIN READ
Thousands of social media users have been sharing a table which claims to provide evidence of election fraud by showing that in 15 states the number of votes counted in the 2020 General Election exceeds the number of registered voters. However, the most up-to-date figures for the number of registered voters are larger than those listed in the table, and not exceeded by the number of votes counted in any of the 15 states.
The post (here) shows a printed table which compares the “Number of Registered Voters 2020” and “Votes Counted 2020” for all the U.S. states. In the 15 states in the table where the number of votes counted exceeds the number of registered voters, the “votes counted” figure is highlighted in yellow. A note has been handwritten next to each highlighted figure, stating the difference between the numbers. Comments and shares on the post claim that this is evidence of voter fraud, saying “There is so much proof of fraud…”; “CHEATERS”; “Very clear signs of voter fraud!”; “North Carolina is a cheat state” (here).
The 15 states are Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Reuters recently debunked another table showing outdated voter registration numbers (here).
A live Reuters count of the number of votes cast in the 2020 presidential election can be found here, selectable by state here.
COLORADO
The post shows Colorado’s registered voters total as 2,645,000, and votes counted as 2,923,312.
The Colorado Secretary of State website’s General Election 2020 unofficial results page (bit.ly/3n1JY7U) showed that as of Nov. 6, 2020 there were a total of 3,780,115 active voters registered in Colorado. This data says that the turnout was 83.46% as there were 3,154,704 ballots cast.
Voters could register to vote on Election Day in Colorado (here), which explains why current figures are slightly higher than those recorded on Nov. 1 (here).
DELAWARE
The post gives Delaware 472,000 registered voters and 502,344 votes counted.
The Delaware Department of Elections website’s General Election 2020 unofficial results page (here) states that as of Nov. 4, 2020 there was a total of 739,570 registered voters, with 507,805 ballots cast making a 68.66% turnout.
Registration on Election Day is not allowed in Delaware (here).
FLORIDA
The post says Florida had 9,435,000 registered voters but 11,040,806 votes counted.
The Florida Department of State Division of Elections data shows that as of Oct. 13, 2020 there were a total of 14,441,869 registered voters in Florida (here).
Voters had to register 29 days before the election in Florida and could not register to vote on Election Day (here).
HAWAII
The post says that in Hawaii there were 523,000 registered voters and 552,216 votes counted.
The State of Hawaii Office of Elections publishes election results, including voter registration and turnout on its website (here).
Results for the 2020 General Election published on Nov. 4, 2020, show that there were 832,466 registered voters, with a turnout of 69.6% with 579,165 ballots cast (here).
Voter registration is allowed on Election Day in Hawaii (here).
IDAHO
The post says that Idaho recorded 743,000 registered voters but 867,214 votes counted.
The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office website shows that as of Nov. 2, 2020, there were 1,010,984 registered voters in Idaho (here).
However the number of registered voters for the 2020 General Election could be higher than this as voters were able to register on Election Day (here).
IOWA
The table in the post shows that in Iowa there were 1,658,000 registered voters and 1,683,565 votes counted.
The Iowa Secretary of State website publishes voter registration totals (here). As of Nov. 2, 2020 there were a total of 2,095,580 active registered voters in Iowa (here).
The number of voters registered by the end of Election Day could be higher than this figure as voters can register on Election Day in Iowa (here).
LOUISIANA
The post says that in Louisiana there were 2,263,000 registered voters and 2,417,313 votes counted.
The Louisiana Secretary of State website publishes registration statistics here. This data shows that as of Nov. 1, 2020, there was a total of 3,091,340 registered voters in Louisiana (here) .
The latest voter registration deadline in Louisiana was Oct. 13 (here).
MASSACHUSETTS
The Facebook post says that in Massachusetts there were 3,345,000 registered voters but 3,399,168 votes counted.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts publishes voter registration statistics on its website (here). As of Oct. 24, 2020 there was a total of 4,812,909 registered voters in Massachusetts (here).
The deadline for registering to vote was ten days before the Nov. 3 election (here).
MINNESOTA
The table in the post says that there were 3,000,000 registered voters in Minnesota but 3,207,098 votes counted.
The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State has voter registration statistics available on its website. As of Nov. 2, 2020, the total number of registered voters was 3,588,563 (here).
Minnesota allows same day voter registration, which may have increased the number of registered voters even more (here and here) .
NEBRASKA
The post says that in Nebraska there were 883,000 registered voters but 914,496 votes counted.
The Nebraska Secretary of State website shows that as of Nov. 4, there were 1,267,366 registered voters, with a voter turnout of 73.86% as 936,106 votes had been cast (here).
Voters could not register on Election Day in Nebraska (here), they could register up to 11 days before the election (here).
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The post claims that in New Hampshire there were 726,000 registered voters but 765,523 votes counted.
There were 1,001,446 registered voters in New Hampshire as of Aug. 10, 2020 (here), according to the New Hampshire Secretary of State website.
The website’s 2020 General Election results page (here) says that 814,092 ballots were cast in New Hampshire.
Voters were able to register between 6 to 13 days before the election, and on Election Day in New Hampshire so the number of registered voters could be higher than 1,001,446 (here) .
NORTH CAROLINA
The post gives North Carolina 5,160,000 registered voters but 5,453,943 votes counted.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections has voter registration statistics available on its website. The total number of registered voters as of the week of Nov. 3, 2020 was 7,361,219 (here) .
So far, North Carolina has reported unofficial data showing 7.36 million registered voters and 5.49 million ballots cast, which shows a 74.6% voter turnout (here). This is unofficial data from election night and will be updated on the website after results are finalized on Nov. 24.
VERMONT
The post says that 343,000 people were registered to vote in Vermont but there were 365,250 votes counted.
The Vermont Secretary of State website election results show that as of Nov. 6, there were 506,311 registered voters in Vermont and 372,367 ballots cast (electionresults.vermont.gov/). People were able to register to vote on election day in Vermont (here).
VIRGINIA
The post says that in Virginia there were 4,159,000 registered voters but 4,304,183 votes counted.
Statistics published on the Virginia Department of Elections website shows that there were 5,975,752 registered voters in Virginia as of Nov. 2, 2020 (here).
Voters had to register 22 days before the election and could not register on election day (here) .
WISCONSIN
The post says in Wisconsin there were 3,129,000 registered voters but 3,289,143 votes counted.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission has voter registration statistics available on its website elections.wi.gov/node/7220. The total number of registered voters in the state on Nov. 1, 2020 was 3,684,726.
Reuters Fact Check debunked other social media claims showing similar numbers for Wisconsin, here.
Wisconsin allows same day voter registration, which may also mean the registered voters for election day could be higher than 3,684,726 (here) .
VERDICT
False. In all 15 states highlighted in the table the most up to date number of registered voters is higher than the number of registered voters listed in the table. Therefore, in all 15 states the number of registered voters does not exceed the votes counted.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.
