“"People are not typically choosing this person!" — message a Streamwood, Ill., TikTok user (@bauerbabe21) said a Cook County voting machine showed her after she picked Republican candidates; reposted on X as proof voting is "rigged" and, per tagesschau's Nov. 7, 2026 report, viewed more than 1.4 million times”

The claim: “"People are not typically choosing this person!" — message a Streamwood, Ill., TikTok user (@bauerbabe21) said a Cook County voting machine showed her after she picked Republican candidates; reposted on X as proof voting is "rigged" and, per tagesschau's Nov. 7, 2026 report, viewed more than 1.4 million times”

Why we rated it this way: Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon's statement says the voting equipment “does not tell voters which candidates are more popular, nor does it discourage voters from selecting any particular candidate,” and only displays a notice when a contest is left blank or under-voted. The clerk's office told Snopes and PolitiFact this was the only such report among nearly 1.8 million registered voters, there were no Republican judicial candidates on the Cook County ballot, and Streamwood's Republican village clerk said he could not reproduce the message. The woman later said she named the wrong race but still believes she saw the warning, so what she saw on screen is unconfirmed, but no record supports a popularity message.

What would change our rating: A photo or video of the actual on-screen message, other voters reporting the same notice, or a voting-system audit or vendor log showing the equipment can display candidate-popularity text would move this verdict.