A widespread issue exists where ballot machines made by Dominion Voting Systems are telling voters in Cook County, Illinois, who choose Republican candidates in the 2026 midterm elections that “people are not typically choosing this person.”
- Social media users are spreading a TikTok video of a woman in Cook County, Illinois, who claimed that she received a notice that said, “People are not typically voting for this person,” when she attempted to choose a Republican judicial candidate.
- While posts suggest that what allegedly happened to the woman must be a widespread issue, there’s no evidence that any other voter has shared a similar experience. Furthermore, there are no Republican judicial candidates on the 2026 Cook County ballot.
- Election officials in the area from both parties refuted her claims, and the Cook County Clerk’s Office said that they have received no other complaints or reports about this supposed issue, despite people already casting 54,000 early voting ballots in the jurisdiction.
- In a follow-up video, the woman said she would take down the original clip to avoid spreading misinformation and acknowledged that there are no judicial candidates in Cook County. She also said she was not trying to mislead anyone and maintained that she saw a notification that said the candidate she chose was unpopular.
- Based on the information available, it seems likely that the woman simply misread an “undervote” notification that tells voters when they have not made all available selections. Snopes reached out to the woman and awaits a response.
As early voters flocked to the polls ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, a rumor spread online about alleged voter interference in Cook County, Illinois.
Social media users spread a TikTok video of a woman from Cook County, Illinois, who claimed that when she attempted to vote for a Republican judicial candidate, the voter machine shared a pop-up notice that said, “People are not typically choosing this person!”
The claim circulated on Facebook, X and YouTube. The voting machine at the center of the claim came from Dominion Voting Systems, which U.S. President Donald Trump has previously and falsely targeted for allegedly deleting votes from his supporters. (The company was later sold to a former Republican official.)
However, there are no Republican judicial candidates on the ballot in Cook County — a heavily Democratic area — this year. Both Democratic and Republican officials told Snopes that the claims in the TikTok were inaccurate.
Given that there is no evidence of widespread voter interference in Cook County aligning with the woman’s claims, we have rated this claim
The woman also later uploaded a far less popular video (archived) under her TikTok handle, @bauerbabe21, that said “she wasn’t trying to be deceitful,” but she was going to take down the clip so she would not continue to “spread misinformation.” In that video, she acknowledges that she was wrong about the judicial candidates but maintains that she received the notification while voting for other candidates.
It is worth noting that a former Republican election official, Scott Leiendecker, acquired Dominion Voting Systems in 2025 and rebranded it to “Liberty Vote.” A spokesperson for Liberty Vote directed us in an email to the Cook County Clerk’s statement about this video, which called it “false and misleading.”
Officials from both parties address claims
Cook County’s clerk, Monica Gordon — a Democrat — explained in a Facebook post what may have happened in this particular instance (emphasis ours):
The facts: Voting equipment does not tell voters which candidates are more popular, nor does it discourage voters from selecting any particular candidate.
The equipment may display a notification if a voter leaves a contest blank or does not make all available selections (an undervote).
This standard ballot-review feature gives voters an opportunity to review their ballot and confirm that it reflects their intentions before casting it.
The choice is always yours. Voters are free to select the candidates of their choice or leave any individual contest blank.
The Cook County Clerk’s Office takes election integrity seriously. Claims that voting equipment attempts to influence voters are false and misleading.
Frank Herrera, a spokesperson for Cook County Clerk’s Office, echoed Gordon’s statement in an email to Snopes.
“This is the only report of this type that has been brought to the Clerk’s Office attention in a jurisdiction with nearly 1.8 million registered voters,” Herrera said. “With more than 54,000 Early Voting ballots already cast, the Clerk’s Office has received no similar reports. The absence of any similar reports further undermines this false claim.”
In the original video, the woman identifies herself as a resident of Streamwood, a township in Cook County. Here’s what Aris Garcia, Streamwood
I am aware of the claims circulating regarding an alleged message displayed on a voting machine in Streamwood.
We have attempted to recreate the reported message and were unable to reproduce the experience described. It is also important to clarify that there are no Republican judicial candidates on the ballot in Cook County for the November 3, 2026 election. Therefore, the claim that she selected a Republican judicial candidate is inconsistent with the ballot.
The integrity of our elections is fundamental, and it is important that concerns regarding election procedures are taken seriously.
I encourage anyone who experiences an issue while voting to report it immediately to an election judge or the Cook County Clerk’s Election Division.
TikTok user claims she misspoke
The woman’s follow-up video includes an email from an unnamed “gentleman who works for Streamwood Township” who theorized that she received a notification while attempting to vote for three Republicans for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioners — a position which manages wastewater treatment and flood control for Cook County.
The man also noted, as officials above stated, that the system displays “undervote” notifications if a voter leaves a contest blank or does not make all available selections. (We asked both Garcia — who is named in the email — and the woman to clarify the identity of the man who sent the email and await a response.)
The woman said that she now believes she received the notification in question when attempting to vote for the commissioner positions, but disagreed that the notification was about an “undervote” issue.
“I feel guilty that I said the wrong thing,” she said in the video (see 3:42). “Even though I know I was wrong, I know for a fact that message still appeared…my kids were moving around, there was an election judge trying to talk to my kids, I was super haywire. I read it though, and it said, ‘fewer people’ or ‘less people’ voted for this candidate.”
However, in her original video, she says the error message went away after she selected all three Republicans — indicating that it’s likely she simply received an undervote notification and misread it in the chaotic environment that she described (see 1:15).
Cook County’s election machine testing process
Claims about “rigged” voting machines often fail to consider the detailed standards and processes that officials, from the local to federal level, use to prepare for U.S. elections.
In Illinois, all equipment is “tested and approved by both an independent voting system testing laboratory (VSTL) and by the State Board of Elections’ team of election specialists.” The state also requires public tests of equipment at least five days ahead of Election Day, which are open to “representatives of the political parties, the press, representatives of the State Board and the public.”
In Cook County, those tests are happening on Oct. 27 for the general election.
For more on voting machine conspiracy theories, see our story debunking claims that voting machines are deliberately switching votes from one candidate to another.
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