No, Democrats have not ‘pre-filled’ 100 million ballots with ‘wrong name’

Did President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race result in millions of outdated ballots?

That’s what the text on a popular meme claims.

"Me watching the Left realizing the 100 million ballots they prefilled now have the wrong name," the posts say, featuring actor Leonardo DiCaprio laughing, an image drawn from his role as Calvin Candie in the movie "Django Unchained."

We saw the posts being shared widely July 21 and 22 on Instagram and Threads.These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Screenshot from Instagram)

Experts told PolitiFact this claim is wrong: There are no official general election ballots yet. 

"This is absolutely incorrect," Richard Hasen, election law expert at UCLA, said of the claim in an email to PolitiFact. "Voters were casting ballots in a primary election for delegates to the Democrats’ convention. No general election ballots have been prefilled with anything. It’s absurd."

Rebecca Green, a College of William & Mary law professor, told PolitiFact, "No state has begun printing its ballots since the Democratic Party has not yet nominated its candidate. States do not ‘pre-fill’ ballots before nominees are selected."

PolitiFact previously reported that experts say replacing Biden on the ticket isn’t "unlawful." That’s because Biden wasn’t the official nominee yet. 

The Democratic National Committee on July 24 finalized rules for the 2024 Convention, establishing a virtual process to select the presidential nominee. The deadline to declare candidacy lapsed July 27, and candidates have until July 30 to show they meet the nomination qualifications.

So far, Harris remains the only high-profile person to publicly declare candidacy. The rules say that if only one candidate qualifies for the nomination, electronic voting may start as soon as Aug. 1. The Democratic National Committee said it expects to have a presidential nominee by Aug. 7. 

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Democrats will hold a ceremonial roll call during the convention, which takes place Aug. 19 to Aug. 22 in Chicago. 

Typically, states set a deadline after a political convention or another process for the party to transmit the presidential nominee’s name. States then print that name on ballots.

Michael Gerhardt, University of North Carolina constitutional law professor, previously told PolitiFact, "The timing does not present any legal or constitutional problems. The Democratic nominee has not become official yet, ballot deadlines in states have not been violated in any way, and the rules of the convention are fully intact and in force."

Deadlines for providing the nominees’ names for ballots vary by state, but they generally fall in late August or early September.

"There would be no basis in law for election officials to prepare the ballots for this fall’s general election prior to the deadline for the political parties to identify to those election officials who the party’s nominees are," Edward Foley, Ohio State University law professor, told PolitiFact in a July 26 email.

In some states, delegates are required to vote for the candidate they supported in the primary. But Josh Putnam, a political scientist specializing in delegate selection rules and founder of the political consulting company FHQ Strategies LLC, previously told PolitiFact that these laws haven’t been tested in court. Most states that require this "also contain provisions allowing for the inevitable release of delegates in those situations where a candidate drops out, as Biden has," he said.

It’s not true that 100 million ballots have been "pre-filled" with the wrong name. We rate that claim False.

PolitiFact Chief Correspondent Lou Jacobson and Senior Correspondent Amy Sherman contributed to this report.

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