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FACT BRIEF

Are ballots cast by people not on the voter rolls in Maricopa County, Arizona, evidence of fraud in the 2020 election?

By Dana Ford
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NO

People in many jurisdictions, including Maricopa County, can cast provisional ballots, which are only counted if it's determined that the voters are eligible to vote, according to county officials. Such people would then be added to the rolls at a later date.

A claim on social media states more than 11,000 people voted in Maricopa County in the 2020 election when they weren't on the rolls. The clear implication is that this fact constitutes fraud. That's not true.

County officials addressed the meme on Twitter. More than 18,300 provisional ballots were cast in the 2020 general election in Maricopa County, which rejected more than 7,600 of them.

People can cast provisional ballots when they're not on the rolls. Doing so doesn't mean that their votes will be counted. They still have to go through a verification process; only eligible voters have their ballots counted.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Maricopa County (Arizona) Tweet responding to claim about 11,000 names added to voter rolls afer
Maricopa County (Arizona) Tweet explaining how provisional ballots work
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.