US election officials and experts say ballots are not automatically invalidated if poll workers write on them, countering misleading social media posts that have resurfaced ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

Posts onlinehave warned voters that any poll-worker markings will result in ballots being disqualified Election officials and experts say poll workers often have legitimate reasons to write on ballots.

Illinois law, for example, requires election judges to initial ballots before issuing them and state officials say this practice does not invalidate votes The North Carolina State Board of Elections said in an October 14 statement that poll workers mark ballots "for different reasons as required by law" and that such markings do not affect whether a ballot is counted.

It added that social media posts claiming otherwise have circulated for years and "are still false" Election officials in Illinois and Tennessee have also issued similar statements confirming that ballot markings by election workers do not invalidate ballots Verified Voting, a nonpartisan election monitoring group, told Reuters that ballots may be marked "duplicated" if the original is damaged, with a serial number linking the replacement ballot to the original County officials in Florida and New Mexico have also said writing on a ballot does not automatically disqualify it and that ballots unreadable by tabulators can be counted by hand Marks made by voters that could identify them, such as signatures, initials or ID numbers, may invalidate a ballot under some state laws, Verified Voting said in an Verdict: Misleading.

Writing or markings on ballots by poll workers do not automatically invalidate them