Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center

Reported Voting Issues: Kings County, New York

About this Report

This report tracks self-reports of voting-related issues including misleading election messages, intimidation, and voter registration problems to help identify areas that may need a closer look. It is part of the broader 2026 Voting Information Trends Research Initiative, which examines how Americans access voting information and understand key election-related topics ahead of the 2026 U.S. elections.

We include counties where at least 50 people responded to our survey. Of 250 such counties, Kings County ranked 97th highest in reports during this survey period. Findings reflect 203 respondents from Kings County, New York, surveyed between August 23 and October 26, 2026.

Important Note: This is not a nationally or locally representative sample. Respondents are recruited online, and counties rated higher risk by the Voting Rights Lab are oversampled. Figures are unweighted and reflect only those who responded, not the broader county population. Findings should be interpreted as signals that warrant further attention or verification, rather than as representative estimates or rankings of election administration, election integrity, or the prevalence of voting problems among county residents.

Monitored election problems

ProblemCounts when a respondent reports they…Time window
Registration challenge noticeGot a notice that their voter registration was challenged or canceled, or that they were removed from the rolls.Past month
Conflicting registration informationGot conflicting information about their voter registration.Past week or month
Discouraged from registeringSomeone tried to discourage them from registering or staying registered.Past day, week or month
Misleading calls or textsGot a text, email, message, call or robocall about the 2026 election that felt misleading, coercive or unusual.Past day, week or month
Intimidation or harassmentExperienced or witnessed harassment or intimidation connected with voting or elections.2026 election cycle
Trouble with a voting taskHad trouble registering, checking their registration, or requesting, returning or tracking a mail ballot.2026 election

Table of Contents

Select a name to go to that section.

SectionWhat it shows
Summary of FindingsShare of Kings County respondents reporting each problem, compared with the New York and national rates
Week by weekWeekly shares for the three problems asked about in the past day or week
Who reported a problemShares by gender, age, household income, race/ethnicity, education and party
Follow-up detailFollow-up answers for each problem reported by more than 10 people
New York overviewThe same measures for all respondents in New York, for comparison
National overviewThe same measures for all respondents nationally, for comparison
About the surveyWhat the survey monitors, how counties are ranked, and limits of the data

Summary of Findings

29.1% of Kings County respondents (59 of 203) reported at least one of six election problems, compared with 26.5% nationally. Of the monitored problems, conflicting registration information (8.2% vs. 5.1% nationally), being discouraged from registering (8.7% vs. 3.8%) and trouble with a voting task (13.5% vs. 7.2%) are higher than the national rate by more than the margin of error. Statewide, 24.3% of New York respondents (412 of 1,697) reported at least one problem; the chart shows Kings County, New York and national rates side by side. Kings County respondents make up 12.0% of all New York respondents (203 of 1,697) and 0.4% of all respondents nationally (203 of 56,077).

Share reporting each problem, Kings County, New York

Figure 1. Share of Kings County, New York respondents reporting each problem, with the New York and national shares, Aug 23–Oct 26, 2026. Kings County n = 203; New York n = 1,697 (including Kings County, 12% of the state's respondents); national n = 56,077. Margin of error for the county share reporting any problem: ±6.2 percentage points, so the county figure is within the margin of error of the national rate. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

Week by week

Weekly share reporting each problem, Kings County, New York

Figure 2. Weekly share of Kings County, New York respondents reporting each problem (teal line with circles), with New York statewide (red line with squares, including Kings County) and the national share (black dashed line). The shaded band is the 95% confidence interval for the national share, which is the range the weekly figure could vary based on the sample size alone. Hollow points are weeks with fewer than 10 Kings County respondents. Weeks start Monday; only problems asked about in the past day or week are shown (conflicting registration information: past week), each person counted once per week. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

Weekly groups in Kings County are small (5 to 48 people), and who answered these questions changes from week to week, so treat week-to-week movement as a signal to watch, not a finding. From Aug 23–Oct 12 to Oct 13–Oct 26, the share of Kings County respondents reporting any of these three problems went from 13.0% to 12.5% (177 and 40 people): no clear change, since the difference is within the margin of error.

Who reported a problem

Among groups of 30 or more people, reports were most common among people aged 25 to 44 (39.4%) and least common among people aged 45 to 64 (14.3%), against 29.1% overall. Reports rose with education. By race and ethnicity, reports were most common among White or Caucasian respondents (39.2%, 29 of 74), 1.8 times the rate among Black or African American respondents (21.8%, 22 of 101), a difference larger than the margin of error; Hispanic or Latino respondents (30.4%) fell in between.

GroupReportedShare
All respondents59 of 20329.1%
Gender
Female23 of 8028.8%
Male36 of 12329.3%
Age
18 to 249 of 2142.9%
25 to 4437 of 9439.4%
45 to 649 of 6314.3%
65 and over4 of 2516.0%
Household income
Under 25K10 of 5119.6%
25k to under 50k14 of 4332.6%
50K to under 75K10 of 3231.2%
75K to under 100K9 of 3228.1%
100K and over16 of 4535.6%
GroupReportedShare
Race/ethnicity
Black or African American22 of 10121.8%
White or Caucasian29 of 7439.2%
Hispanic or Latino14 of 4630.4%
Asian or Asian American1 of 128.3%
Other2 of 4–
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian0 of 1–
Native American or Alaska Native0 of 1–
Education
Some High School or Less2 of 1118.2%
High School Graduate11 of 5221.2%
Some College12 of 4725.5%
College Degree27 of 7436.5%
Graduate Degree7 of 1936.8%
Party
Democrat28 of 9629.2%
Republican14 of 3935.9%
Independent/Other17 of 6725.4%

Share reporting at least one of the six problems, by group, Kings County, New York, Aug 23–Oct 26, 2026. Race/ethnicity is select-all-that-apply, so one person can appear in more than one group. Shares are shown for groups of 10 or more people. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

Follow-up detail

Follow-up detail is shown for each problem reported by more than 10 people. Not shown: registration challenge notices (6 people) and conflicting registration information (no follow-up question).

Discouraged from registering: who discouraged them

A political party or campaign44% (8)
News or social media44% (8)
Election office33% (6)
A private group or organization28% (5)
Not sure6% (1)

Share of the 18 people asked.

Trouble with a voting task, by task

Trouble registering9% (18)
Trouble checking registration5% (10)
Trouble requesting a mail ballot4% (9)
Trouble tracking a ballot4% (9)
Trouble returning a mail ballot3% (7)

Share of the 208 people asked.

New York Overview

August 23 to October 26, 2026. 1,697 respondents across New York, including people whose county is not on file.

24.3% of New York respondents (412 of 1697) reported at least one of six election problems, compared with 26.5% nationally. Of the monitored problems, conflicting registration information (6.3% vs. 5.1% nationally) and being discouraged from registering (4.8% vs. 3.8%) are higher than the national rate by more than the margin of error.

Share reporting each problem, New York

Figure 3. Share of New York respondents reporting each problem, with the national share, Aug 23–Oct 26, 2026. New York n = 1697; national n = 56,077. Margin of error for the state share reporting any problem: ±2.0 percentage points, so the state figure is lower than the national rate by more than the margin of error. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

New York: Week by week

Weekly share reporting each problem, New York

Figure 4. Weekly share of New York respondents reporting each problem (red line), with the national share (black dashed line). The shaded band is the 95% confidence interval for the national share, which is the range the weekly figure could vary based on the sample size alone. Hollow points are weeks with fewer than 10 New York respondents. Weeks start Monday; only problems asked about in the past day or week are shown (conflicting registration information: past week), each person counted once per week. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

Weekly groups in New York are small (33 to 473 people), and who answered these questions changes from week to week, so treat week-to-week movement as a signal to watch, not a finding.

New York: Who reported a problem

Among groups of 30 or more people, reports were most common among people aged 18 to 24 (44.1%) and least common among Native American or Alaska Native respondents (12.9%), against 24.3% overall. Reports fell with age. By race and ethnicity, reports were most common among Hispanic or Latino respondents (29.1%, 80 of 275), 2.3 times the rate among Native American or Alaska Native respondents (12.9%, 4 of 31), a difference larger than the margin of error; Asian or Asian American respondents (28.6%), Black or African American respondents (25.6%) and White or Caucasian respondents (23.0%) fell in between.

GroupReportedShare
All respondents412 of 169724.3%
Gender
Female188 of 80923.2%
Male224 of 88825.2%
Age
18 to 2441 of 9344.1%
25 to 44217 of 62934.5%
45 to 64103 of 62016.6%
65 and over51 of 35514.4%
Household income
Under 25K71 of 42716.6%
25k to under 50k103 of 43024.0%
50K to under 75K95 of 31630.1%
75K to under 100K45 of 17026.5%
100K and over87 of 31727.4%
GroupReportedShare
Race/ethnicity
White or Caucasian234 of 101723.0%
Black or African American116 of 45325.6%
Hispanic or Latino80 of 27529.1%
Asian or Asian American22 of 7728.6%
Native American or Alaska Native4 of 3112.9%
Other7 of 2133.3%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian1 of 4–
Education
Some High School or Less15 of 8218.3%
High School Graduate81 of 47017.2%
Some College92 of 39923.1%
College Degree162 of 53330.4%
Graduate Degree62 of 21329.1%
Party
Democrat195 of 73726.5%
Republican103 of 41424.9%
Independent/Other114 of 54520.9%

Share reporting at least one of the six problems, by group, New York, Aug 23–Oct 26, 2026. Race/ethnicity is select-all-that-apply, so one person can appear in more than one group. Shares are shown for groups of 10 or more people. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

New York: Follow-up detail

Follow-up detail is shown for each problem reported by more than 10 people. Not shown: conflicting registration information (no follow-up question).

Registration notices: who sent the notice

Election office47% (17)
A private group or organization36% (13)
A political party or campaign31% (11)
News or social media31% (11)
Not sure8% (3)
Other3% (1)

Share of the 36 people asked.

Trouble with a voting task, by task

Trouble registering4% (76)
Trouble checking registration3% (54)
Trouble tracking a ballot2% (38)
Trouble requesting a mail ballot2% (32)
Trouble returning a mail ballot2% (27)

Share of the 1712 people asked.

Discouraged from registering: who discouraged them

A political party or campaign44% (36)
News or social media35% (29)
Election office32% (26)
A private group or organization32% (26)
Not sure7% (6)
Other2% (2)

Share of the 82 people asked.

National Overview

August 23 to October 26, 2026. 56,077 respondents who answered all six questions.

26.5% of respondents (14,861 of 56,077) reported at least one of six election problems. The most common were misleading calls or texts (15.7%) and intimidation or harassment (7.7%); the least common was registration challenge notices (2.5%).

Share of respondents reporting each problem, national

Figure 5. Share of respondents reporting each problem, national, Aug 23–Oct 26, 2026. Each person counted once; bases vary slightly by question (56,077 to 56,446). Margin of error for the national share reporting any problem: ±0.4 percentage points. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

National: Week by week

Weekly share reporting each problem, national

Figure 6. Weekly share of respondents reporting each problem, national. The shaded band is the 95% confidence interval for the national share, which is the range the weekly figure could vary based on the sample size alone. Weeks start Monday; only problems asked about in the past day or week are shown (conflicting registration information: past week), each person counted once per week, so weekly rates are lower than full-period rates. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

Misleading calls or texts went from 6.8% in the week of Aug 31 to 11.8% in the week of Oct 19; being discouraged from registering went from 1.9% in the week of Aug 31 to 2.0% in the week of Oct 19; conflicting registration information went from 2.0% in the week of Aug 31 to 2.1% in the week of Oct 19. Weeks have 2,874 to 16,019 respondents (the first, partial week 388), so the margin of error is narrow except in that first week. From Aug 23–Oct 12 to Oct 13–Oct 26, the share of respondents reporting any of these three problems went from 10.4% to 13.9% (44,992 and 16,011 people): a rise larger than the margin of error.

National: Who reported a problem

Among groups of 200 or more people, reports were most common among people aged 18 to 24 (42.5%) and least common among people 65 and over (19.0%), against 26.5% overall. Reports rose with income and education, and fell with age. By race and ethnicity, reports were most common among Hispanic or Latino respondents (33.6%, 1628 of 4850), 8 points higher than White or Caucasian respondents (25.1%, 10421 of 41451), a difference larger than the margin of error; Asian or Asian American respondents (30.5%), Black or African American respondents (30.2%), Other respondents (30.1%), Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian respondents (29.3%) and Native American or Alaska Native respondents (29.0%) fell in between.

GroupPeopleShare
All respondents56,07726.5%
Gender
Female32,59424.6%
Male23,48329.1%
Age
18 to 243,00042.5%
25 to 4420,21632.0%
45 to 6421,42623.0%
65 and over11,43519.0%
Household income
Under 25K14,92422.3%
25k to under 50k15,84024.7%
50K to under 75K10,77127.8%
75K to under 100K6,12430.5%
100K and over7,82832.6%
GroupPeopleShare
Race/ethnicity
White or Caucasian41,45125.1%
Black or African American9,96630.2%
Hispanic or Latino4,85033.6%
Native American or Alaska Native1,86929.0%
Asian or Asian American1,64830.5%
Other47830.1%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian31429.3%
Education
Some High School or Less2,60519.1%
High School Graduate17,57423.2%
Some College14,40425.8%
College Degree16,72430.0%
Graduate Degree4,77032.7%
Party
Democrat20,12929.2%
Republican17,07326.4%
Independent/Other18,81423.6%

Share reporting at least one of the six problems, by group, national. Race/ethnicity is select-all-that-apply, so one person can appear in more than one group. Source: CHIP50 survey data.

National: Follow-up detail

Follow-up detail for respondents nationwide who reported each problem. Not shown: conflicting registration information (no follow-up question).

Registration notices: who sent the notice

Election office46% (647)
A political party or campaign28% (394)
News or social media22% (308)
A private group or organization21% (299)
Not sure14% (191)
Other3% (45)

Share of the 1,401 people asked.

Trouble with a voting task, by task

Trouble registering3% (1,789)
Trouble checking registration3% (1,689)
Trouble requesting a mail ballot2% (1,041)
Trouble tracking a ballot2% (1,039)
Trouble returning a mail ballot1% (656)

Share of all 56,446 respondents asked.

Discouraged from registering: who discouraged them

News or social media35% (749)
A political party or campaign32% (684)
A private group or organization27% (584)
Election office25% (544)
Other10% (210)
Not sure10% (206)

Share of the 2,161 people asked.

About the survey

The 2026 Voting Information Trends research Initiative tracks how people get voting information and monitors possible election-related problems reported at the county level. We focus on issues respondents say they have personally experienced or observed, including misleading election communications, intimidation, voter registration problems, and difficulties completing voting-related tasks. The goal is to identify signals that may warrant closer attention.

We survey about 1,000 U.S. adults each day through an online, nonprobability sample covering all 50 states and Washington, D.C. State-level quotas are used for race, ethnicity, age, and gender. We also collect additional responses from selected counties identified as higher risk by the Voting Rights Lab (VRL), whose 2026 risk index considers factors including electoral competitiveness, election laws and procedures, litigation, and concerns involving state and local election actors.

How to read this report

Counties with at least 50 respondents are ranked by the share of unique respondents reporting at least one monitored problem during the data-collection period. We also report results for individual problems, weekly trends, demographic groups, and when sample sizes allow, additional follow-up detail.

Weekly trends are shown only for questions that ask about experiences in the past day or week, and each respondent is counted once per week. Figures include a 95% margin of error based on sample size. We describe a county as higher than the national rate only when the difference is larger than that margin.

When a respondent selects a problem but then states in an optional written follow-up that nothing actually happened, we recode the response as not reporting the problem. These contradictions are identified using a large language model (LLM) assisted coding and reviewed by a member of the research team.

About the data

These results are signals, not estimates of prevalence. The survey is not nationally or locally representative, and results should not be used to estimate how common a problem is in the country or in any county. Figures are unweighted and describe the people who responded. Unlike individual reports found on social media, these responses come from a standardized survey using the same questions and time periods across respondents, allowing us to compare patterns across places and against a national benchmark.

The purpose of the survey is to identify issues that may warrant independent investigation or verification. Election officials, journalists, and other organizations can then assess those reports and respond when appropriate.

Because the data are self-reported, a response does not by itself verify that the reported problem occurred. Respondents may also interpret questions differently from researchers. For example, some reports of “misleading calls or texts” describe campaign messages rather than false voting information, and some registration notices may come from campaigns or advocacy organizations rather than election offices. These findings should therefore be treated as signals of where to look more closely, not counts of verified incidents.

Use of AI in this report

The research team wrote and reviewed the “About the survey” section. The summaries of the results are filled in automatically from templates built with AI. All numbers come directly from the survey data. Automated text can contain errors, so readers should check the summaries against the tables and charts.