On the day of the U.S. midterm elections, social media was flooded with reports of 20,000 allegedly counterfeit ballots found in Houston, on which votes had been cast for Democrats. It was claimed that the FBI had discovered them during a raid on a warehouse on the evening before the election. However, the agency stated that it had not conducted any election-related operations and that the information about the fake ballots was false.
The FBI responded to social media posts on Tuesday, November 3. The agency stated that it was aware of posts claiming that agents had conducted a raid in Houston and found counterfeit ballots. “The FBI in Houston is aware of social media posts claiming that our field office conducted an election-related ‘raid’ and ‘discovered counterfeit ballots.’ This information is false; no election-related operation was conducted,” the bureau said in a statement.
Thus, the claim that 20,000 ballots—on which votes were cast for Democratic Party candidates—were allegedly seized has not been confirmed. The FBI separately emphasized that it did not conduct any raid as described in the reports.
According to independent disinformation researchers and fact-checkers, including NewsGuard, this story was actively circulating among right-wing social media accounts. It was shared on X, Truth Social, Bluesky, Telegram, and other platforms. The first post about the alleged raid, according to researchers, appeared on the page of a user...
On the day of the U.S. midterm elections, social media was flooded with reports of 20,000 allegedly counterfeit ballots found in Houston, on which votes had been cast for Democrats. It was claimed...