Every state except Louisiana has a paper trail record of the votes cast in elections.
Posted by Deadline: White House, Checked
- Sources
- 2 contradict4 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
Deadline: White HouseOct 22, 2026
At the statewide level the claim holds: Louisiana is the only state whose machines lack a voter-verified paper trail (PolitiFact, LegalClarity, Himes, Becker).
A detail. The sources confirm the gist; the verdict faults a detail such as a date, number or wording.
A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… Lots of that goes on, but we have never seen our elections themselves subject to an operation to screw up the results, which, by the way, apart from the fragmentation, would be really, really hard, because, but for the state of Louisiana, looking at you, Speaker Johnson, every other state has a paper trail record of the votes that were cast. So it's important that Americans remember that their elections are safe and secure and reflect the will of the voters. What is your sense of how much heat will be behind Trump's claims of voter fraud? …
Deadline: White House · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The Global Statistics summary of the EAVS 2024 report says 80 jurisdictions in three states still used equipment without a verified paper trail, which implies paperless equipment outside Louisiana at the jurisdiction level.[4]
Contradicts. Verified Voting data cited by LegalClarity indicates about 3.9% of registered voters still vote on direct-recording electronic machines with no paper trail, a share that cannot be attributed to Louisiana alone under the EAVS figures.[5]
Supports. PolitiFact (Jan 2026) reports that the only machines without a voter-verified paper audit trail are in Louisiana.[1]
Supports. LegalClarity states that Louisiana is the only state that still relies entirely on paperless electronic voting machines statewide, and Arkansas Advocate says most voters in jurisdictions without a paper trail are in Louisiana.[5][7]
Supports. Rep. Jim Himes said on MS NOW that except for Louisiana, every other state has a paper backup; Sen. Becker's claim in an opinion piece is similar, but these are political statements, not independent records.[6][8]
Context. Reuters and the EAC report that more than 98% of US election jurisdictions produce a paper record for every vote, so the claim's broad framing is close to correct but not literal.[2]
Context. Texas's statutory paper-trail requirement (S.B. 598 analysis) is a statutory requirement question, distinct from whether machines produce a paper record in practice.[3]
Sources
8 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 primary, 4 not rated, 1 tier 1
- 1Trump's promise to require only paper ballots stallspolitifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Trump official tried to ban half of US voting machines, citing ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 3(1) that occurs after August 31, 2026 - Texas Legislature Onlinecapitol.texas.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 4US Election System Statistics 2026 | Process, Voters & Key ...theglobalstatistics.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5Which States Use Paper Ballots and Which Don’t?legalclarity.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 6House Democrat: Paper ballots protect against Musk’s potential election hackingthehill.com · tier 1 · cited for: supports
- 7Voting machines malfunction every election. But manufacturers and officials have safeguards in placearkansasadvocate.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 8What Trump doesn't know, or want you to know, about electionssanluisobispo.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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