Headline Roundup • October 27th, 2026
Fact Check: Are Voting Machines in Tennessee Flipping Votes for Marsha Blackburn?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Voters in Tennessee, including Dolly Parton's sister Stella Parton, have taken to social media with complaints of malfunctioning voting machines that have defaulted to Republican candidates, sparking rumors of foul play. Local and national outlets across the political spectrum spoke with Tennessee officials about the potential user errors that have contributed to the issue.
The Details: Stella Parton wrote on Facebook, "In Tennessee last week at the Hermitage Library where I voted, I had to go back three times and correct my vote because it kept defaulting to Marsha Blackburn… Don't let them rig this election." Marsha Blackburn is the Republican candidate running for governor in Tennessee. The post received over 19.7 thousand reactions at the time of publication and sparked hundreds of comments from people who said they, or people they know, experienced something similar when voting early.
For Context: The Tennessee coordinator of elections Mark Goins said that this is a user error relating to the touch screens used to fill out the paper ballots rather than election interference. "It's not a vote flipping situation. It's normally like an unintended touch that they may not even realize," Goins said. The Davidson County Elections Administrator John Richardson told a local news channel that the county will provide voters with styluses to help prevent the touch screen issue moving forward. A Democratic lawmaker in Tennessee told the Tennessee Lookout (Lean Left bias) that while she doesn't "think it's indicative of any foul play," this is an issue that "keeps coming up and it needs to be addressed after this election, because it's not acceptable that people are having these problems."
How the Media Covered It: Outlets across the political spectrum tended to clarify the potential user error issue with the machines rather than emphasizing rumors that the election was rigged. ABC News (Lean Left) addressed challenges with voting machines on a national level, writing that issues with touchscreen machines "don't signal election rigging." ABC claimed that "election officials say the touchscreen challenges are almost always the result of user error or an easily fixed screen miscalibration and say the number of complaints this year isn't higher than it has been in years past." It addressed social media claims about difficulties with machines in Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, and other states. Forbes (Center) noted that "this isn't the first year voters have reported problems with machines changing selections" and that there are known issues with some of the older touchscreen machines, including the ones used in many parts of Tennessee. ZeroHedge (Lean Right) reported on Parton's Facebook post and included various statements from state officials denying the alleged "vote flipping situation." ZeroHedge also wrote that voter turnout in Nashville, Tennessee, is already 15 times higher than it was in the 2022 midterm.
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Featured Coverage of this Story
Stella Parton, Dolly Parton's younger sister, says a voting machine at the Hermitage Library in Davidson County kept selecting Republican gubernatorial nominee Marsha Blackburn, a candidate she says she would never vote for, forcing her to correct her ballot three times. Mediaite flagged her post. Tennessee's elections coordinator calls such reports unintended touches, and says the paper ballot, not the screen, is what gets counted.
"In Tennessee last week at the Hermitage Library where I voted, I had to go back three times and correct my vote because it kept...
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A number of voters in the overwhelmingly red state of Tennessee, including Dolly Parton's sister Stella, have reported problems with voting machines on social media and said the machines either did not display their desired candidate or changed their selections.
Parton said she "had to go back three times and correct my vote because it kept defaulting to Marsha Blackburn" and encouraged voters to be extra vigilant in making sure their votes are correctly tallied.
The reports erupt on social media every election year: Voters say they tapped a candidate's name on a touchscreen voting machine, only for the wrong person to light up as their selection.
With some trial and error, and occasionally help from poll workers, the voters are generally able to cast their intended ballots. Nevertheless, some come away from the experience assuming the worst — that the anecdotal issues are proof of a partisan election-rigging scheme.
