Voting from the car did not mean there was election cheating in South Carolina

What is the claim?

According to a video (archived here) posted to X (formerly Twitter) on November 5, a polling station in South Carolina was not allowing Americans to submit their own ballots. 

The video, which has amassed 1.2 million views, had the overlaid text, "The election cheating."

In the video, a man sitting in his car says he just went by one of the places where you vote. "And you don't go in to vote, you pull up in your car. They bring the machine out to your car. They push the buttons for you." 

"Something's happening, America. And it's BIG. Pick up before it's too late. If they say Kamala Harris won South Carolina, I understand why and how they did it," the man says, echoing voting fraud claims.

The video is not from election day but was published two weeks before. What the man describes sounds like so-called curbside voting, a way to vote from your car, offered to South Carolinians who cannot access the polling place or stand in line to vote due to a disability or age. 

What are the facts?

The video (archived here) bore a watermark with a username. By searching for the username on Google, we found that the video was initially uploaded to TikTok on October 25, 2024 – almost two weeks before Election Day. In a subsequent video (archived here), the same user said the incident had happened at the polling station on Third Loop Road in Florence, South Carolina. 

Early voting was possible in South Carolina from Monday, October 21, to Saturday, November 2. 

South Carolina permits curbside voting. Voters who are unable to access the polling place or stand in line to vote due to a disability or being 65+ may vote from their vehicle, according to the South Carolina Elections Commission website. This does not require a disability parking placard, and only the voter is allowed in the vehicle while voting unless the voter is entitled to assistance. The voting works by a poll worker bringing a portable voting machine to the voter's car.

According to the local news station WBTW News13, curbside voting isn't new, but this was the first time voters could vote curbside, in person, and early for a presidential election.  

Julian Young, director of voter registration and elections in Florence County, told AFP that the county "had a large population of both senior adults and other voters with disabilities who meet the requirements to receive curbside voting during early voting." 

He also said they had not received any incident reports suggesting their workers had touched the curbside voting machine screens, stating, "After the voter makes their selection and their ballot is printed, the voter has to place their ballot into a protective sleeve to keep any worker that is assisting them from touching or viewing their ballot."

The man in the TikTok video says he tried filming the incident but couldn't because there was too much traffic. This suggests that he only drove past the polling station and didn't enter it to see if other voters went inside to vote. 

According to the South Carolina State Election Commission, more than 1.5 million of the state's 3.5 million registered voters cast their ballots in the early voting period. Most of them, approximately 1,472,000, did so in person. 

Kamala Harris lost South Carolina and the election.

John Michael Catalano, public information office of the South Carolina State Election Commission, told Logically Facts that they "are aware from the post from yesterday."

He said that while the vast majority of voters vote inside the polling place, state law does allow voters who are unable to access the polling place or stand in line to vote due to a disability or being age 65 or older to vote in their vehicle. 

"Voters with disabilities and voters who are blind or unable to read or write may receive assistance in voting. Voters must inform a poll manager if they require assistance. The voter may choose anyone to assist in casting their ballot except for their employer, an agent of their employer, or an officer or agent of their union," Catalano said. 

Conway Belangia, director of the Board of Voter Registration & Elections in Greenville County, another South Carolina county told Logically Facts that "curbside voting in Greenville County was in the hundreds."

Logically Facts contacted the TikTok user, and the Florence County Board of Voter Registration & Elections for comment.

The verdict

The video was not from election day. South Carolina allowed for curbside early voting for people with disabilities and older people. Florence County did not receive incident reports suggesting their workers touched the curbside voting machine screens. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false. 

Follow Logically Facts' coverage and fact-checking of the U.S. Election 2024 here.