A number of posts on social media have been claiming the number of votes in Wisconsin exceeds the number of registered voters. One widely circulated Facebook post has the following caption:
“BREAKING: Wisconsin has more votes than people who are registered to vote. Total number of registered voters: 3,129,000 Total number of votes cast: 3,239,920 This is direct evidence of fraud.”
This claim is false.
The number 3,129,000 comes from reported voting and registration data from the 2018 midterm election.
According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, as of November 1, Wisconsin has 3,684,726 registered voters in the state. In a tweet posted Wednesday, the Wisconsin Elections Commission addressed these false claims and also noted that because voters are allowed to register to vote on Election Day in Wisconsin, the number of registered voters reported by certain counties are not a true reflection of registration.
This tweet thread by Craig Gilbert, the Washington bureau chief for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, explains the voter registration numbers further. He describes voter turnout as “high” but not a record in a subsequent tweet.
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Photograph of Wisconsin voters by Sara Stathas/Washington Post/Getty Images.
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