The official elections account for Yavapai County, Arizona, posted to X on Oct. 31: “ATTENTION VOTERS: The president is NOT on the ballot. We are receiving many calls asking why that race is missing.”
Contrary to some social media users’ claims, it is not clear whether the majority or all of these calls came from Trump supporters, or if some voters opposing the president also wanted to know why he was “missing” from the ballot. Yavapai County is majority Republican but has a sizable number of Democrats and independent voters.
As Election Day for the 2026 midterms approached, a story spread that election officials in Arizona had to inform voters that U.S. President Donald Trump is not on the ballot.
The rumor circulated on X and Facebook, where users claimed an X account representing officials in Yavapai County, central Arizona, posted a message saying they have received “many calls” asking why the president’s name was “missing” from their ballots. The county’s X post allegedly reads:
ATTENTION VOTERS: The president is NOT on the ballot. We are receiving many calls asking why that race is missing. Also, we can’t tabulate voters’ hair combs, gift cards, honey-do lists, tax bills or anything besides a Yavapai County Ballot. Happy Voting!
Arizona voters are calling election officials because they can’t find Trump on the ballot. Somewhere, a civics teacher just walked into the desert and surrendered to the coyotes.
— Shoresy (@radiokaos666) November 1, 2026
The official Yavapai County elections account, @YavapaiRecorder, did post the above message to X on Oct. 31 (archived). As such, the quote is correctly attributed to the county’s election officials.
ATTENTION VOTERS: The president is NOT on the ballot. We are receiving many calls asking why that race is missing. Also, we can’t tabulate voters’ hair combs, gift cards, honey-do lists, tax bills or anything besides a Yavapai County Ballot. Happy Voting!
— Yavapai Recorder (@YavapaiRecorder) October 31, 2026
While @YavapaiRecorder does not have an X verification badge denoting its status as an official government account, the Yavapai County government page for elections — as indicated by the “.gov” domain — links to the @YavapaiRecorder account under “Twitter,” X’s former name.
To be clear, Trump is not on the ballot, nor is he eligible for reelection because he is already in his second term — even though he has repeatedly floated changing the Constitution to allow himself a third term as president. He has also consistently told his supporters to “pretend” he is on the ballot in an attempt to drum up support from his base for Republican candidates on the 2026 midterms ticket. For example, in August, he said:
The problem that we have is, they say that Trump does great when he’s on the ballot, but when he’s not on the ballot, his people don’t come and they don’t vote for senators, congressmen and other Republicans … so what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot. Just come and vote. It’s so important.
While some social media users claimed Trump supporters were responsible for the calls that moved Yavapai County election officials to post their message on X, it is not clear whether these calls had any connection to party affiliation.
As of Oct. 7, according to the county’s official website (archived), 51% of active registered voters are Republican, 29% are independent and 18% are Democrats. Another 2% are libertarians, unaffiliated or identify with the Green Party.
Yavapai County did not immediately return a request for more details about these calls. We will update this article if we receive a response.
