Trump's name not appearing on the California voting machine screen goes viral

Claims that former President Donald Trump does not appear on the first page of the presidential candidate list of voting machines in California and supporters have to click “More” to find his name have gone viral on social media.

The accusation came from an anonymous X account but has since been shared by House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, a close Trump ally, who called the situation “ridiculous.”

Election integrity has been a major issue following the 2020 presidential election, which Trump continues to insist he won despite that claim being repeatedly rejected in court and by independent election experts. A recent study by the think tank Brookings Institute concluded that the proportion of fraudulent votes cast in elections over the past 25 years was “miniscule.”

On October 30, an anonymous Instead, the names of the Democratic candidates were visible: Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, independent candidate and Trump supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had partially suspended his campaign, Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver, and the Green Party's Jill Stein.

The X user wrote: “If you wanted to vote [red] You had to click an extra button to even select the candidate on the Republican ticket.” The post went viral on X, receiving over 9,600 reposts and 6.6 million views.

The post was shared by Georgia Rep. Greene, who added, “In California, Trump/Vance isn't on the first page of the ballot, but RFK is still on the first page even though he dropped out months ago!!”

“CA voters have to click to go to multiple pages and vote for Trump. This is ridiculous!!”

Kennedy Jr. remains on the ballot in California and 32 other states despite suspending his campaign in August and endorsing Trump. He said he would withdraw his candidacy in Republican-leaning states.

X user “American AF,” who describes himself as part of Trump’s MAGA movement, also shared the photo and commented, “Donald Trump’s name does not appear on the first screen as an option on voting machines in California. You have to click.” “More” ways to vote for him.” This post received 23,000 reposts and 12.1 million views on the platform.

However, it also received a community note from other X users saying, “In California, the order of candidates is random and rotates across districts.”

The community notice included links to others on

According to the website of California Secretary of State Shirly Weber, who oversees elections in the Golden State, voting order is determined by randomly selecting letters.

The website states: “On the 82nd day before an election, the Secretary of State shall conduct a random drawing of letters of the alphabet in accordance with Section 13112 of the California Elections Code.”

“The resulting order of letters constitutes the 'randomized alphabet' used to determine the order of candidate names on the ballot.”

Newsweek contacted Secretary of State Shirly Weber's office and the X accounts “Darth Carl” and “American AF” outside of regular office hours on Friday for comment. Contact was made via online inquiry form, email or X-direct message.

An analysis of recent polls by election website FiveThirtyEight released Thursday showed Harris with a 1.2-point (rounded) lead over Trump nationally, with 47.9 percent of the vote to 46.8 percent.

However, due to the Electoral College system, a candidate can receive the most votes but not win overall, as was the case with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Overall, FiveThirtyEight gave Trump a 53 percent chance of winning compared to 47 percent for Harris.

In better news for the Democratic nominee, a recent artificial intelligence-based analysis by Bonus Code Bets concluded that Harris is on track for a narrow victory with 276 Electoral College votes to 262 for her Republican opponent .