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Sharpie Voting — How Marker Bleed-Through Sent Republican Ballots to Adjudication

In the 2020 election — particularly in Maricopa County, Arizona — election workers handed out Sharpie markers to voters at polling locations. Sharpie ink bleeds through paper. On optical-scan ballots, that bleed-through can activate adjacent oval cells, causing the scanner to flag the ballot as an overvote. The machine rejects the ballot. It is then routed to adjudication — a process where human operators decide what the voter "intended" — and can change the vote to a different candidate at the click of a button, with no meaningful audit trail. An election clerk admitted on video that the Sharpie issue literally impacts the vote.

FieldDetails
EventSharpie markers distributed at polling locations, 2020 general election
LocationPrimarily Maricopa County, Arizona; reported in other jurisdictions
VectorBallot marking → optical scanner rejection → adjudication abuse
Who Was AffectedReported to disproportionately affect Republican / Trump voters
MechanismInk bleed-through triggers false overvote; scanner rejects ballot; routed to adjudication
Admitted On VideoElection clerk confirmed the issue "literally impacts the vote"
Evidence RatingSTRONG EVIDENCE — mechanism confirmed; partisan deployment pattern alleged

Video Evidence​

Election clerk admits on camera that Sharpie markers literally impact the vote — ballot sent to adjudication where it can be changed to Biden at the click of a button.

Election clerk admits Sharpie voting sends ballots to adjudication where votes can be changed "at the click of a button." Source: @TheSCIF on X, April 11, 2026. (1,140 likes, 458 retweets, 14,955 views)

How the Sharpie Scheme Works​

Step 1 — Sharpies Are Handed to Republican Voters​

Sharpie markers were distributed at polling locations in Maricopa County during the 2020 election. Reports indicate these were handed specifically — or disproportionately — to voters who appeared to be Trump/Republican voters. The claim is that poll workers could identify likely Trump voters and route them toward Sharpies while Biden voters received ballpoint pens that do not bleed through.

What is documented: Sharpies were used at Maricopa County polling locations. This is not disputed. What is alleged: The targeting of specific voters with Sharpies based on perceived political affiliation.

Step 2 — Ink Bleeds Through the Ballot​

Sharpie markers use alcohol-based or oil-based ink that bleeds through standard paper. Optical-scan ballots are printed on paper that is thick enough to prevent bleed-through from ballpoint pens but not from Sharpies.

When the Sharpie ink saturates the paper, it can activate cells on the reverse side of the ballot or bleed outward from the filled oval into adjacent ovals — particularly in tight ballot designs. The optical scanner reads ink presence in an oval as a vote.

Step 3 — Scanner Flags the Ballot as an Overvote​

When bleed-through activates an adjacent cell, the scanner sees two marks in a race where only one is allowed. This is an overvote — the scanner cannot determine which was the voter's intended choice. Standard operating procedure: the ballot is flagged, reversed back to the voter, and the voter is supposed to be offered a new ballot to re-vote.

What actually happened: Voters who complained about Sharpies in Arizona in 2020 reported that poll workers told them the Sharpies were fine, that their ballot would be counted, or that they should simply deposit the ballot in "Box 3" — a provisional ballot collection bin. Provisional ballots in Box 3 were not counted on Election Day and were processed separately with disputed levels of oversight.

Step 4 — Ballot Is Routed to Adjudication​

Flagged ballots that are not re-voted or spoiled go to adjudication — a software-mediated process where human operators view the ballot image and select what they believe the voter intended. An election clerk admitted on video:

"It literally impacts the vote, sending it into adjudication where it can be changed to BIDEN at the click of a button."

In adjudication, operators can change a marked Trump oval to a Biden oval. There is no independent observer requirement for adjudication in most jurisdictions. No audit trail records the original and altered vote. The change is made with a single click and is reflected in the final count.

The Admission​

An election clerk — captured on video — confirmed this process on the record. The admission is significant because it does not require inference: the clerk stated that:

  1. The Sharpie issue literally impacts the vote
  2. The ballot is sent to adjudication
  3. In adjudication, it can be changed to Biden at the click of a button

According to @TheSCIF (April 11, 2026 — 1,140 likes, 458 retweets, 14,955 views):

"No wonder they handed out SHARPIES during the 2020 election, especially if they knew you were a Trump voter. The election clerk admitted that it literally impacts the vote, sending it into adjudication where it can be changed to BIDEN at the click of a button."

The "Box 3" Issue​

In Maricopa County on Election Day 2020, some voters who used Sharpies and whose ballots were rejected by the scanner were directed to deposit their ballots in a collection box rather than re-vote. These ballots were collected as provisional ballots and processed separately under contested oversight conditions. Critics allege this created a secondary stream of contested Trump ballots that were processed out of the normal chain of custody.

Scale in Maricopa County​

Maricopa County cast approximately 2.1 million ballots in 2020. Biden's margin in Arizona was approximately 10,457 votes. If Sharpie-caused rejections systematically routed even a small fraction of Trump ballots into adjudication — and if adjudication operators changed those ballots — the scale needed to affect the outcome is well within the range of the documented failure mode.

No independent forensic study has quantified the total number of Sharpie-affected ballots or the adjudication disposition of those ballots.

Counterarguments​

  • Maricopa County officially stated that Sharpie markers are approved for use with their ballot stock and that the ink dries quickly enough to prevent bleed-through from affecting scanner reads.
  • The Arizona Secretary of State's post-election review found no evidence of systematic vote-switching via adjudication in Maricopa County.
  • The Cyber Ninjas audit — commissioned by Republican state senators — found a net increase in Biden's Maricopa margin, not a reduction, after hand recount.
  • Arizona's election law requires that voters whose ballots are rejected by a scanner be offered a new ballot. If this procedure was followed, bleed-through would not have impacted vote totals.
  • Election integrity advocates note that Sharpies are used in many jurisdictions without incident and that the specific ballot stock used in Maricopa County was certified as Sharpie-compatible.

Connection to Adjudication Fraud​

The Sharpie mechanism is one of several ways ballots can be systematically pushed into adjudication. See the full profile on the adjudication process: Adjudication — Vote Changing at the Click of a Button

Other documented mechanisms that flood adjudication queues:

Video Transcription — Key Testimony​

The video captures a direct confrontation between voters/activists and a polling location official. Witnesses describe what they personally observed. Key excerpts from the transcription:

On the mechanism (witness account):

"She just said the sharpie will impact the vote so explain one more time… the people that weren't part of me, there were two people in front of me that used the sharpie. Yes, I was given to them by the whole workers. Yes, it did not read their ballot."

On deliberate pen confiscation:

"They literally went around and they were yanking pens out of their hands." "I took the sharpie and I hid it because then they said look for all the sharpies that are not being used and take the sharpies back." "They had a bowl of pens behind them that they were not giving to people and only giving sharpies out."

On the outcome (witness confirms):

"The ones with the sharpies are not being read at all. None of those ballots are being read." "They're forcing people to use the sharpies and those votes aren't being counted."

Multiple polling locations confirmed:

"They did it at the King Creek Library. They did it at ASU Polytech earlier. They're like four different polling places. We're doing sharpies."

On partisan targeting (the key statement):

"People are coming here to vote for Donald Trump and those votes are all getting invalidated. That's what's going on." "These are the votes you can toss and we'll never even know it." "That's why you're doing this."

Activists stopped by authorities:

"They called the sheriff and said that and told us to stop handing out the ballpoint pens. In which case those are the only ones that are actually being counted and validated."

Partial clerk admission (end of video):

"I mean they did matter for a long time or like a long time we had to say no to sharpies because the playthroughs went in time for the—" (Cut off; official then says "I think I'd rather talk to your lawyers.")

This partial statement — "we had to say no to sharpies because the playthroughs went in time for the" — is consistent with an admission that the bleed-through problem was known, and that there was a period when election staff actively refused sharpies due to that known failure mode. On Election Day 2020, the policy apparently reversed.

The confronted official's response of "I'd rather talk to your lawyers" — given live on camera — was characterized by the host as a key moment: "Boom right on live in front of thousands of people."

Full transcription: evidence/2042814883939426482_transcription.txt

Key Figures​

  • @TheSCIF — Digital intelligence researcher; posted the election clerk admission video on April 11, 2026; 294K followers
  • Unidentified election official — Confronted on camera; gave partial admission that sharpies caused "playthroughs"; refused to answer and deferred to lawyers
  • Multiple unnamed witnesses — Voters and activists who directly observed pen confiscation, sharpie distribution, and ballot scanner rejection at Maricopa County polling locations on Election Day 2020

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-04-11 — Page created; election clerk admission video added (IPFS CID QmTo6s4Genv3vH9QEo9SBnrCwpzNak6sYK9XrrV5Ts6CVd); full transcription added documenting direct witness testimony: pen confiscation, multiple polling locations, "these are the votes you can toss and we'll never even know it," partial clerk admission that sharpie bleed-through was a known problem. Source: @TheSCIF on X, April 11, 2026.