Picture of boarded-up windows is from 2023 Florida storm, not Michigan voting centers

It’s hurricane season and election season in the U.S. But a mix-up between the two has led to a storm of misinformation. 

The claim showed up on our radar Sept. 24, when a Michigan attorney shared an image on X of a man boarding up windows with plywood. 

"Ballots are going out, @JocelynBenson is getting ready to count them, and the lunatic @dananessel vows to prosecute anyone who challenges the results," the post said, referring to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. 

Vance Patrick, chairman of the Oakland County Republican Party in Michigan reshared the photo on X, posting, "What good are windows in our counting centers if they can simply be boarded up or blocked by pizza boxes? Mark my words, they are preparing to steal this election." 

(Screenshot of X post)

But Michigan isn’t boarding up its election centers with weeks until Election Day. This image was taken Aug. 29, 2023, in Tampa, Florida, as the city prepared for Hurricane Idalia, according to a Getty Images caption. 

The photo appeared in several news stories about the Category 4 storm. 

Angela Benander, a Michigan Department of State spokesperson, told PolitiFact in an email, "The Department of State does not run polling locations, they are run by local and county clerks. We are not aware of any clerks boarding up windows at polling locations this year or ever."

When PolitiFact contacted Patrick for comment, he wrote in an email, "Nowhere in my tweet do I assert anything related to the photo that Mr. DePerno tweeted, I simply stated that in my experience, windows can easily be blocked - such as in 2020 when pizza boxes were used to block the windows of the counting center in Detroit."

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“The cheat has begun” because “Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania have officially announced that they will not have election results available on election night.”

Claims about covered windows and election fraud date back to the 2020 election, when then President Donald Trump and his supporters falsely pointed to it as evidence the election was stolen.

Here’s what actually happened: During the 2020 election, security workers at an absentee ballot counting center in Detroit covered windows with paper after election workers reported feeling intimidated by people outside taking photos and videos. The Detroit Free Press reported that challengers gathered outside the ballot-counting area and began pounding on the doors and windows. But more than 100 Republican challengers remained in the counting area and continued to observe election workers. There is no evidence that widespread voter fraud took place. 

The attorney who originally shared the Florida hurricane prep photo has a history of spreading election-related misinformation. Following the 2020 election, The New York Times profiled Matthew DePerno after he was charged in connection with an effort to illegally access and tamper with voting machines. His case had not yet gone to trial, and the next hearing is scheduled for November, according to court documents. DePerno has run for public office as a Republican before, including for Michigan attorney general in 2022, and for the Michigan Supreme Court in 2024.  

We rate the claim that this image shows windows being boarded up in Michigan vote counting centers False. 

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.