- After the 2026 midterm elections, posts on social media combined two separate claims about voter fraud into one copypasta.
The posts claimed that Wisconsin had 7.1 million registered voters but a population of only 4 million people old enough to vote, and that Texas was beginning to arrest people for committing voter fraud. - The claim about Wisconsin is false. Data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission shows the state had 3.6 million active voter registrations, while the Wisconsin Department of Health Services estimated the state’s voting age population at about 4.8 million in 2025.
- The claim about Texas is a mixture of true and false information. It’s true that on Oct. 31, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — who went on to lose his bid for U.S. Senate against Democrat James Talarico — announced he had ordered the arrest of an unknown number of people who allegedly voted in the 2026 election but had been convicted of felonies and therefore did so illegally. It’s also true that on Nov. 2, the U.S. Department of Justice announced five people in Texas had been arrested and charged with “election-related crimes.”
- It’s false, however, that Texas had “just started arresting people,” as some posts claim, and no additional election-related arrests been announced in Texas as of this writing.
After the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, in which the Democratic Party won a massive number of seats at both the state and federal levels, copypasta posts spread on social media alleging that the election results in Wisconsin and Texas were fraudulent.
“Wisconsin found 7.1M registered voters when they only have 4M population,” read a Nov. 8 X post, for example. “Texas just started arresting people.. it has started!”
(X user @PaulGoldEagle)
Snopes readers contacted us looking for a fact-check on the two separate claims — one questioning the number of registered voters vs. total population in Wisconsin and the other claiming Texas was arresting people for voter fraud.
The Wisconsin claim is false, based on data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The Texas claim is a mixture of true and false information. While recent news releases did indicate several people in Texas were arrested, or had warrants issued for their arrest, on election-related charges, the number of people targeted was too small to affect the outcome of an election.
Wisconsin voter registration
First of all, searching for Wisconsin’s voter registration figures revealed that this particular claim has been around for quite some time.
The Associated Press disproved a similar claim suggesting the state had counted more ballots in 2020 than it had registered voters (that claim used an outdated voter registration figure). We also found a February 2026 fact-check from the nonprofit news organization Wisconsin Watch disproving a claim spread by President Donald Trump that the state had more voter registrations than adults.
Checking the latest numbers revealed the claim remains false. According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the state had 3.6 million active registered voters as of Nov. 1. Meanwhile, Wisconsin had an estimated population of just under 6 million in 2025, according to the Census Bureau and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, and about 4.8 million voting-age adults.
It’s unclear how the post arrived at the figure of 7.1 million registered voters.
According to the WEC and Wisconsin Watch, the state also maintains a list of inactive voter registrations, around 4.7 million additional entries. However, voters cannot cast a ballot if their registration is inactive, meaning that it’s improper to consider those additional 4.7 million entries as active, registered voters.
The WEC’s frequently asked questions page describes those inactive records as follows, noting that state law requires it to maintain the ineligible list, which also helps it catch potential fraudulent cases:
People are made inactive (ineligible) when they die, move and register in another state, are convicted of a felony, are adjudicated incompetent to vote, or are made inactive through statutory voter list maintenance processes.
Adding the 3.6 million active registrations to the 4.7 million inactive ones that shouldn’t be counted produces a total of approximately 8.2 million total records, larger than the state’s population, and more in line with the misleading claim.
Texas voter fraud arrests
As for the posts’ claim about Texas, Snopes found two news releases showing that at least a few people were reportedly arrested, or had warrants issued for their arrest, on election-related charges.
On Oct. 31, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his office had issued arrest warrants for an unspecified number of people with felony convictions suspected of voting illegally in the 2026 midterm elections while on parole. (Paxton went on to lose his bid for U.S. Senate against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.) The people allegedly cast ballots in Harris County, home of Houston, though the warrants were issued in Montgomery County, the suburban county directly north of Harris County.
Under Texas state law, a person convicted of a felony loses their right to vote while serving their sentence, including while on parole or probation. They regain their voting rights only when their sentence is fully served.
Paxton’s news release did not say how many warrants had been issued or how many people had been arrested on the charges. We contacted his office for clarification but had not received a reply at time of publication.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 2, the day before Election Day, the Department of Justice announced new election-related charges against five people located in Texas. It’s unlikely that five illegal votes could be enough to sway a statewide election. None of the DOJ arrests appeared to be related to the 2026 midterms, either.
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