How an election conspiracy starts
A deep dive into the voting machine error in Northampton County, Pennsylvania
So far, the counting and certification of last week’s elections have proceeded uneventfully (great news!). Though the final certification process is ongoing, eligible votes have been counted and results have been reviewed by local election officials in a professional manner according to established state procedures.
Despite this, last Tuesday during the election itself, we saw an election conspiracy come to life in real time.
A voting machine printing error that took place in Northampton County, Pennsylvania — one that, while unfortunate, was quickly handled — was turned into a wide-spread conspiracy in a matter of a few hours.
So today, we’re tracking how this conspiracy theory took hold, with an eye toward understanding how this tactic might be replicated in the future by actors looking to undercut trust in election processes.
If you have any questions about this or the counting and certification processes taking place around the county, don’t hesitate to reach out.
- The Informing Democracy Team
How a Conspiracy Theory is Born
Research Note: These are by no means all the tweets that were spread about the Northampton County ballots but are instead a representative sampling meant to demonstrate how misinformation spreads.
What Happened on Election Day:
Northampton County Voting Machine Error
Early on Election Day, November 7, officials in Northampton County, Pennsylvania announced that a programming error with the county’s ES&S Expressvote XL voting system had switched the “yes” and “no” votes on the paper ballot receipts for retention of Pennsylvania Superior Court Judges Jack Panella (D) and Victor Stabile (R).
Under the ES&S Expressvote XL system, voters select their candidates on a touchscreen, which then prints the voters’ selections onto a paper printout that is given to the voter to check for accuracy before the actual ballot is counted. The issue in Northampton County was limited to the retention vote on Panella and Stabile, and only occurred when a voter selected “Yes” for one candidate and “No” for another. Despite the glitch on the paper ballot receipt, county officials have confirmed that voters’ actual choices were properly recorded by the voting machine, and their votes were tabulated accurately.
All in, Northampton County identified the election machine glitch and rectified the error within roughly two hours, and all votes are believed to have been cast accurately. The timeline of the error was as follows:
Around 7:15 a.m.: Voters first reported the error on printed voting receipts.
By 7:30 a.m.: Officials received orders to instruct voters to use provisional paper ballots instead of the voting machines.
By roughly 9:15 a.m.: Poll workers were ordered to resume using the voting machines and to tell all voters about the issue before casting their ballots.
There is no evidence that the programming error impacted or will impact the integrity of the election. As of November 16, Panella and Stabile were both on track to win retention by hundreds of thousands of votes – margins significantly higher than the total population of Northampton County. While Secretary of State Al Schmidt has promised to investigate why the error was not identified prior to Election Day, he also noted that, “county officials have said the error did not affect the tabulation of votes.”
That the error occurred at all can shake confidence in election systems, and we support further investigation and transparency into what happened to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. But, what in actuality was a limited, isolated, and ultimately remedied problem instantly became fuel for those looking to undermine confidence in our elections overall. And we saw this misinformation campaign unfolding in real time.
A Conspiracy Begins to Take Shape
Local journalists first tweeted about the programming error in Northampton County on the morning of Election Day. These initial reports included the following tweets from local Pennsylvania journalists:
8:34 a.m.: Lehigh Valley News journalist Stephanie Sigafoos tweeted about reports that computers were not working at polling places in Northampton Country.
8:56 a.m.: Lehigh Valley News journalist Tom Shortell tweeted about reports of issues with Northampton County voting machines.
9:06 a.m.: Lehigh Valley News tweeted its article on “major problems at multiple districts across Northampton County.”
Following these first reports of the voting machine glitch, right-wing news sources followed suit by posting about the programming glitches, framing the error as “votes getting flipped” rather than the inaccurate printing of paper receipts.
2:44 p.m.: Right-wing news website, The Gateway Pundit, posted a story titled, “It’s Happening: Voting Machines Down in Several Districts in Pennsylvania Due to ‘Votes Getting Flipped.’” The Twitter post about the article was shared over 4,000 times. Replies to the post warned against Democrats committing a “steal” and claimed that former Democratic politicians like Senator John Fetterman had only won through similar alleged rigging.
3:21 p.m.: The Twitter account @rawsalerts posted, “🚨#BREAKING: Voting machines have been shut down in several Pennsylvania districts due to votes getting flipped.” Comments responding to the tweet alleged this was how Joe Biden would “win again in 2024” and claimed “cheating software malfunctioned.”
The Conspiracy Grows
The Gateway Pundit’s article and Raws Alerts’s post swiftly circulated around right-wing Twitter, leading to reposts by a number of conservative pundits and election conspiracy theorists. Actors trying to subvert elections recontextualized accurate local reporting to warn that “election machines cannot be trusted,” using Northampton County to argue for the exclusive use of paper ballots.
3:19 p.m.: Right-wing pundit Rogan O’Handley, who had 1.2 million Twitter followers, tweeted, “🚨BREAKING: Voting machines in Pennsylvania shut down after getting caught flipping votes Democrats run that state and will cheat in *any* way possible ENOUGH IS ENOUGH - Get rid of these damn rigged machines!!”
4:59 p.m.: Laura Loomer posted an ABC27 article on the Northampton County programming error, calling it “Proof the machines flip votes” and warning, “Election machines cannot be trusted!”
3:57 p.m.: @rawsalerts’s tweet was shared by right-wing political commentator Tim Pool, who captioned it “Hahaha USA USA USA” and racked up 2.1 million views.
4:43 p.m.: General Mike Flynn responded to Tim Pool’s post, writing, “Our voting systems and processes are completely broken and if we are going to have a country with a viable constitution, this nonsense has to cease.”
4:41 p.m.: Conservative podcaster Kyle Becker posted his own news site’s article on the malfunction, writing, “BREAKING.🚨🚨Voting machines have been SHUT DOWN at multiple state election locations due to errors, reports of ‘votes getting flipped.’”
Roughly thirty minutes later, Becker responded to his own post by writing, “So, I wonder if the Thought Police are going to make me apologize for this post? My defense is that voting machines are not equivalent to ‘democracy’ or whatever nonsense propaganda they want to trot out. You can criticize them because you want things to improve. Not because you are ‘undermining confidence in elections’ or some other contrived bullsh*t.”
7:06 p.m.: Conservative pundit Benny Johnson tweeted, “Voting machines in Pennsylvania are now being shut down after reports of machines ‘flipping votes’. And this is why Americans have lost all faith in our electoral process. Add this to the list of election fraud cases we’ve recently learned about.”
Johnson subsequently posted a 10-minute video on his YouTube channel titled “Voting Machines Go DOWN On Election Day | ‘Votes Getting Flipped’ | ‘Gas Leak’ | Here We Go Again.” In the video he said it was “election season across America election night right now tonight and that means it's cheating season for Democrats as voting machines are officially flipping votes in Pennsylvania. How often does this happen? That's a great question!” He later said “I'm old enough to remember a time when you could absolutely get banned from the internet forever, probably get a knock at your door from the FBI for saying that voting machines are switching votes. This is an example of the voting machines that are switching votes.” He later referenced the evacuation of a polling location for a gas leak. As of November 13, 2023, the video had 116,000 views and 3,230 comments.
7:45 p.m.: The account @catturd2, which has 2.1 million followers, wrote, “Funny how all the voting machine malfunctions always only flips votes one way.” In response, commenters complained that alleged flipping only happens in “blue states.”
1:48 a.m., 11/8/23: Alt-right political activist Jack Posobiec tweeted, “Mike Lindell was proven right about the machines in Pennsylvania today,” a claim Mike Lindell retweeted.
As conspiracy tweets about Northampton County’s elections spread, politicians at both the national and state levels weighed in. By November 8, 2023, noted conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene had even joined in, writing, “It makes sense that they steal judge’s elections in order to pack in more communist judges.”
4:15 p.m., 11/7/23: U.S. Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL 19) posted the Associated Press’s article on the programming error, writing, “This is why Americans have a growing distrust of the system. It baffles me how Democrats consistently screw up the execution of elections to the peril and misfortune of the voter. Make Elections Safe and Secure AGAIN!!!”
7:32 p.m., 11/7/23: U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL 13) posted the Associated Press’s article on the programming error, writing, “Oh gee. Look what we have here: Voting machines in one Pennsylvania county flip votes for judges, an error to be fixed in tabulation.”
11:11 a.m., 11/8/23: U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted the Gateway Pundit’s story on Northampton County’s elections, writing, “With what we are seeing them do to Pres Trump, it makes sense that they steal judge’s elections in order to pack in more communist judges. Imagine how much worse things can get!!”
The Long-Term Impact
The spread of misinformation regarding Northampton County’s voting machines eventually led to an Associated Press fact check of claims that “Democrats cheated in Pennsylvania elections with voting machines that were rigged to flip votes.” The Associated Press concluded, “News that machines in the eastern Pennsylvania county appeared to be “flipping” votes in Tuesday’s election was wildly misrepresented on social media, with users claiming it was proof of fraud in the Keystone State.”
By November 10, 2023, conspiracy theories about the Northampton County election results still circulated, leading to an additional Politifact fact check refuting claims of “election fraud” as “false.”
In the week following the election, conspiracy theorists continued to post on Twitter and Gab, arguing that Democrats had worked to steal Northampton County’s Republican votes. Northampton County, despite running fair and free elections, has joined a larger false narrative about the safety of election results in the U.S.
Importance of Shining a Light on Election Counting and Certification Processes
We share this example not only to raise awareness of the need to monitor election canvass and certification processes, but also to highlight the broader need for election literacy and transparency — understanding the people, processes, and systems in place that protect the sanctity of elections.
Looking at the error that took place in Northampton County showcases the importance of election literacy. While voting rights groups have correctly called for an investigation into how the initial error with the paper receipts occurred, it is important to understand that Northampton County’s official ballots were never in jeopardy.
When there’s not a clear understanding of the processes and personnel ensuring the accuracy of our elections, there is room for false narratives like those that occurred in Northampton County to fill the void of information, threatening the foundation of our democracy.
Our hope is that by providing details into the counting and certification processes, as well as monitoring elections as they take place, we can continue to bolster confidence in our election systems, stem the spread of disinformation, and target corrective action against those looking to undermine them. Through election literacy and transparency, we can work to prevent conspiracy theories from taking hold and maintain faith that our voting systems accurately reflect the will of the people.