Will using a Sharpie invalidate your ballot? Debunking an election conspiracy theory
Viral posts like this and this one claim using a Sharpie to mark your ballot will invalidate your vote, while others suggest election officials purposely provide Sharpie-branded pens to disenfranchise voters.
Some Pennsylvania voters are now asking whether filling out their ballot with a Sharpie is OK.
CBS News Philadelphia found that filling out your ballot using a Sharpie pen will not invalidate it, according to local county and state elections officials.
In fact, a number of voting machine manufacturers recommend using Sharpie pens over standard ink pens.
The rumor first surfaced in Arizona during the 2020 presidential election. The claim became so widespread that Arizona's then-Republican attorney general launched an investigation, which ultimately found the use of Sharpies on ballots "did not result in disenfranchisement for Arizona voters."
Maricopa County, Arizona officials also tested a "wide variety of pens with their vote-tabulation equipment," the Associated Press previously reported. They said the pens "are recommended by the manufacturer because they provide the fastest-drying ink."
In Pennsylvania, elections officials in Montgomery County supply Sharpie pens to all precincts.
"Sharpie pens are recommended by our voting machine vendor and have been used in past election," it reads on Montgomery County's website. "The scanner at the polling location reads your ballot, and would alert you if something was incorrect."
Pennsylvania state officials say all claims made since 2020 that ballots marked with Sharpies are unable to be counted and claims that election workers deliberately handed out Sharpies to voters to invalidate their ballots, "were determined by the Department of State to be unfounded."
Officials have also addressed concerns related to "bleed through," citing the deliberate design of the ballot to prevent such issues.
"Dominion's systems never allow for the creation of ballots with overlapping vote bubbles between the front and back pages of a ballot," said Bedford County, Pennsylvania election officials. "If you used a Sharpie provided at your polling place to complete your ballot, please know that your vote was accurately recorded. All votes that are cast are verified using a reconciliation process to ensure with 100 percent accuracy that each voter's ballot counts."
