On October 26, after polling stations opened across Georgia at 8:00 AM, claims circulated on social media (1;2;3;4;5;6;7) that some voters were given two ballots, raising concerns about potential election fraud.
The viral claims regarding the issuance of two ballots at the 2024 parliamentary elections are misleading. The electronic devices do not accept two ballots at the same time, and the presence of observers reduces the risk that a voter might attempt to insert two ballots consecutively.
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The Vote-Counting Device Does Not Accept Two Ballots Simultaneously
After arriving at a polling station and completing the necessary procedures, voters are given a ballot to color in their preferred political party. According to information circulating on social media, observers recorded cases where citizens were given two ballots instead of one, which Facebook users claim increases the risk of “carousel voting.” However, the electronic voting devices are designed to minimize such risks as much as possible. Information that the device cannot accept two ballots at once was confirmed at an 11:00 briefing by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
“We have received information that cases were recorded in which a voter was given two ballots. We want to emphasize that the vote-counting device cannot physically accept two ballots simultaneously. Any mechanical errors in the ballot distribution process are identified on the spot, and there has never been a case of the machine accepting two ballots at once,” said a CEC representative.
According to their statement (5:35), issuing two ballots was a technical error by the registrar, but “we declare with full responsibility that the vote-counting device cannot accept more than one ballot at a time.”
As for the procedure when receiving two ballots, according to the CEC, if it is discovered that a voter received two ballots, the polling station chairperson will invalidate one ballot in front of the voter, fold it, staple it, and set it aside. Only one ballot will be placed in the vote-counting device. During the briefing, they also explained that they had corrected the technical error and notified all polling stations to pay attention to this detail.
Furthermore, the information that it is impossible to insert two ballots into the device at the same time was confirmed by a test conducted by the fact-checking organization “Fact Check Georgia.” A video taken by them shows that the vote-counting device does not accept two stacked ballots.
The information that the electronic devices are functional was confirmed by an independent audit conducted by Pro V&V. According to the report, no issues were identified regarding equal voting rights. The document states that each cast vote equals only one vote; unique voter identification is ensured, and citizens who arrive at the wrong polling station cannot vote; the electronic voting system accurately assigns each citizen the appropriate number of votes (one); and no voter can vote multiple times.
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What Reduces the Risk of Inserting the Ballot Twice Consecutively?
After selecting their choice in the booth, the voter must place the ballot in an envelope and insert it into the vote-counting device. The machine requires time to receive the ballot, process it, and display a message confirming that the vote has been accepted. Therefore, if a citizen brings two ballots into the booth, colors the preferred party on both, and then attempts to insert them one after the other (since the device cannot accept two ballots at once), they would need to wait for the first ballot to be processed before inserting the second. The process takes time. According to the CEC, the election process is monitored by 102 local and 76 international organizations. Thus, observers at the polling station are likely to detect such an attempt, minimizing the risk that the voter could take the time required to insert both ballots unnoticed.
To further clarify the issue, the “Myth Detector” contacted Nika Odikadze, a representative of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association. Odikadze stated that the presence of observers reduces this risk.
“In this case, the technology itself cannot protect us. Observers and the commission at the polling station must be vigilant. If a person comes with two ballots and attempts to insert them one by one, of course, it is a violation and should be prevented. Ultimately, there will be an excess of ballots at the polling station. If such cases occur and one voter inserts more than one ballot by any means, there will eventually be an excess of ballots.”
[…] Typically, a voter has only one envelope and should insert the ballots one by one. [Sequentially placing each ballot in the envelope and then inserting it into the device] will be noticeable, of course. The commission responds to this in the first place, but observers should also be attentive. The device itself will accept it, as this is a ballot intended for that polling station,” Odikadze said.
He also noted that they verify information received from observers indicating that, in isolated cases, one voter managed to vote twice. There are suspicions that chaos may be deliberately created at the polling station so that observers become less vigilant and allow a person to vote twice. However, the risks of this are low, and most cases have been identified so far.
Therefore, the electronic devices do not accept two ballots simultaneously, meaning that a voter cannot secretly insert two stacked sheets into the vote-counting device without being noticed by an observer. Placing two ballots one by one takes time, and therefore, the risk that observers present at the location would fail to notice this is minimal.
