In November 2024, a photograph of a ballot from the city of Odessa in Texas circulated in Russian-language Telegram channels, where Vladimir Putin was allegedly listed among the US presidential candidates. We have verified the authenticity of this image.
On November 5, a photograph of a sheet with a list of US presidential candidates for the 2024 election, similar to a ballot, gained popularity on the Internet. In the column where you can enter your candidate, the name of Vladimir Putin is handwritten, and under it the phrase: “Odessa is a Russian city!” The sources who distributed the photo accompany it with a caption: supposedly this is the result of the will of a certain voter from the city of Odessa (Texas).
Posted a photo with this caption Vladimir Solovyov (211,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), Telegram channels Zergulio (147,000), "Special Operation Z"(61,000), Nina Vatt (33,000). Notes also appeared in the publications “Arguments and facts", "Constantinople", News.ru And "NIA - Kaliningrad"
In the USA, there are often cities whose names coincide with large settlements in Ukraine or Russia. Toponym Odessa meets on a map of several states, including Texas, Minnesota, Delaware and New York. In addition to Odessa, there are more than 20 cities with title Moscow - in Idaho, Kansas, Tennessee and other states. There is a large city in Florida Saint Petersburg, as well as several settlements with the same name throughout the country.
On Election Day, voters in the United States typically vote for more than just presidential candidates. This year also in parallel passed elections to Congress and, in some states, to local governments. Accordingly, in each region, local candidates and questions about local reforms were included in the ballots. In Ector County, Texas, where Odessa is located, residents, in addition to presidential candidates, voted and for candidates for the House of Representatives, Senate, and local office candidates, including county sheriff, district attorney, and various levels of judges.
Ballots in presidential elections could significantly differ depending on the state or county. The difference may relate to the order of placement and the list of candidates themselves. In some states, candidates for office distribute alphabetically, others by lot or in order of party affiliation (for example, the current president may be listed first). Democratic and Republican candidates usually fall to the newsletter automatically because they have stable and recognized support. They go through the nomination process at national party conventions, and then their names appear on the ballots of all states.
Third party and independent candidates must execute specific requirements to get their name on the ballot, and these conditions vary by state. They usually involve collecting a certain number of voter signatures or paying a registration fee, or in some states, both. Requirements vary widely, with some states being simple and others being more complex and expensive. Therefore, such candidates are not present on all ballots.
Write-in column provides voters have the opportunity to enter the name of a candidate who is not on the main list. However, some states additionally require such candidates to register in advance. This includes this obligation. There is and in Texas. Also in some regions non-English speaking voters can vote in your native language. That is, where many Spanish-speaking people live, ballots are translated into Spanish. This condition complied with in Texas. Therefore, the very presence of the Write-in column on the distributed photo does not contradict Texas election laws, but it is strange that some signatures (in particular, party names) are not duplicated in Spanish.
So, in the viral image on the ballot, the nominees are listed in the following order: Mike ter Maat, vice presidential candidate from the Libertarian Party (presidential candidate Chase Oliver, most likely, was not included in the photo), the Green Party with Jill Stein and Rudolph Ware, Randall Terry and Stephen Broden from the Constitution Party, Donald Trump with J.D. Vance from the Republicans, and Cornel West with Melina Abdullah from the Justice for All party. They all really were registered presidential candidates for the 2024 elections. However, the ballot for residents of Ector County, where the city of Odessa is located, looked different. Particularly Terry and West are there were not presented at all. West passed as a write-in candidate, like several other politicians, and Terry did not participate in this state election at all.
Judging by lists of candidates by state, such a set could only be found in North Carolina or Oregon. And despite the fact that, as we noted above, there are several cities in different US states with the name Odessa, Oregon and North Carolina are not among them. Also, the sequence of candidates on the ballot does not match. In the official document, they go in this order: first Donald Trump, then Kamala Harris, Chase Oliver and Jill Stein.
Ector County presidential election results are shown for only the four candidates on the ballot. Donald Trump received the most votes in this district.
The earliest appearance of the photo we are considering on the Internet, which “Verified” was able to track, was in the Russian-language Telegram channel “Odessa public television Z"(9000 views) November 5 at 15:26. This resource has already been used several times featured in our analyzes as the primary source or distributor of false information. It is noteworthy that the channel is often uses fake advertisements allegedly posted in Ukrainian government agencies, or edited photographs discrediting the President of Ukraine. A photo of a ballot with the name of Vladimir Putin could only be found in Russian-language sources. No reputable American media published such notes or photographs.
In addition to the viral photo, some users attached another one as proof. It also lists the US presidential candidates, but opposite Donald Trump's name is handwritten: “V.V. Putin". This newsletter appeared in the Telegram channel Nina Vatt November 5 at 15:39 Moscow time (33,000 views), “🅉 Yakovenko Vyacheslav" (8000) and "Shkvarka News"(2000).
This ballot contains only candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties, and they are the same, but nominated by the Working Families Party and the Conservative Party. This dual nomination is possible in certain US states, and called it is fusion voting. The Working Families Party tends to support Democrats, while the Conservative Party tends to support Republicans. So a candidate can appear on the ballot from two different parties. However, most states, including Texas, prohibit joint nomination. It turns out that such a ballot cannot exist in Texas, since it does not comply with state election laws, unlike, for example, New York, where joint support is allowed.
Thus, these ballots cannot be used as evidence that voters in Odessa, Texas, entered the name of Vladimir Putin as a candidate for US President. We cannot say that no one entered Putin’s name in Texas or other states, but we are sure that the evidence on which this statement is based is falsified.
Cover photo: social networks
- "Gvara Media". Texas Odessa voted for Putin to oust US President
- Is it true that Elon Musk posted a tweet with an image of “the last dollar for Zelensky”?
- Is it true that Trump was removed from the database of the Peacemaker website after his election victory?
- Fake maker needed. How Russian propaganda has been passing off its fakes as advertisements from Ukraine and Western countries for two years now
If you find a spelling or grammatical error, please let us know by highlighting the error text and clicking Ctrl+Enter.
