(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
On September 20, overseas Montana voters faced a brief glitch in their electronic ballots when Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’s name was omitted from the list of presidential candidates.
The Montana Secretary of State’s office swiftly corrected the issue the same day, but not before social media exploded with allegations of foul play.
Posts on platforms like Instagram and Threads quickly seized on the omission, with one post accusing the Republican-led office of partisan conspiracy.
According to Politifact, liberal activists at Occupy Democrats pointed curiously to the fact that other candidates remained on the ballot: “The Montana Secretary of State left Kamala Harris off the ballot. Not RFK, Jr., not Jill Stein. Kamala Harris,”
Others accused Republicans of “weaponized incompetence to steal the election.”
However, the reality was less dramatic. The Secretary of State’s office issued a statement explaining the issue was a technical glitch affecting a small number of voters. The error was reported by a Montana voter living in the UK, and the system was temporarily taken
“No ballots were affected, including those that will be sent to registered absentee voters and those that will be presented to voters at the polling place on Election Day,” the office said in a September 23 press release.
Missoula County elections administrator Bradley Seaman also downplayed the claims being made against his staff: “I feel very confident in their staff and all the people involved that this was not an intentional action.”