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Viral Images of Early Vote Counts From Texas Are Fabricated
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Viral Images of Early Vote Counts From Texas Are Fabricated

The state does not report any vote counts until polls close on Election Day.

People vote during early voting on October 21, 2024, in Houston. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images)

A graphic that shows Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in the Texas vote counts is spreading on social media. The image, originally posted on November 3, features CNN branding and indicates that Harris is winning the state with 51.8 percent of the vote.

“Hey Texas, looks like they are stealing your election,” says one post of the image with more than 2.2 million views on X.

The image is fake and was not broadcast by CNN. “This image is completely fabricated and manipulated and it never aired on any CNN platform,” a representative for the network told The Dispatch Fact Check in an email.

A similar image with slightly different numbers appeared on platforms including Threads over the weekend. 

That version doesn’t include CNN branding, but on close inspection still appears to be significantly altered. Zooming in on the text at the bottom reveals noticeable irregularities with the type. Further, while many Texas residents cast ballots during the early voting period, vote counts for the state are not yet available. Texas counties with more than 100,000 residents began counting early and absentee ballots on November 1 when the state’s early voting period ended, but the state will not begin reporting official vote counts until polls close across the state at 7 p.m. on November 5. Counties with fewer than 100,000 residents must wait until the morning of Election Day to begin their counts.

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

Alex Demas is a fact checker at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he worked in England as a financial journalist and earned his MA in Political Economy at King's College London. When not heroically combating misinformation online, Alex can be found mixing cocktails, watching his beloved soccer team Aston Villa lose a match, or attempting to pet stray cats.

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