False: Several key states had more ballots cast than registered voters.

By: Devika Kandelwal
December 20 2021

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Updated data and individual state reporting show no state had more ballots cast than registered voters.As several states were counting votes in the 2020 U.S. presidential race, on election day a rumor that Wisconsin had counted more votes (3,239,920) than it had registered voters (3,129,000) went viral on social media. Twitter users claimed that this was clear evidence of fraud. However, the post was comparing the vote count from 2020 with the number of registered voters from 2018. The Wisconsin Election Commission on their website states that the “State of Wisconsin had 3,684,726 active registered voters on November 1, 2020.” Another meme making rounds states that several battleground states like Nevada, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, North Carolina, Michigan, and Arizona had more votes than registered voters. The data is attributed to Real Clear Politics and WorldPopulationReview.com. However, the claim is false. Similar to Wisconsin, the claims were made using outdated data, which means the data was taken before state websites were updated. Each state's website offers data on voter registration and total votes, and the current data confirm those states have not counted more votes than they've registered voters. As on Nov. 18: Nevada reported 1,821,864 registered voters, 1,327,394 ballots cast. Pennsylvania reported 9,091,371 registered voters and 6,685,865 ballots cast. Minnesota reported 3,588,669 registered voters and 3,275,735 ballots cast. North Carolina reported 6.27 million registered voters and 4.38 million ballot cast. Michigan reported 8,131,461 registered voters and 5,530,934 ballot cast. Arizona reported 4,281,152 registered voters, 3,420,565 ballots cast.