FBI Calls 'Election Day Is Wednesday' Post a Typo After Connecticut Election Chief Labels It 'Misinformation'

The FBI's New Haven office says its post telling voters 'Election day is Wednesday' was a typo and has since deleted it. On Tuesday morning, Connecticut's election chief, Stephanie Thomas, said the posts were misinformation and told voters to ignore them. Polls for the US midterms opened that day, 3 November.

The FBI's own guidance lists false election dates among the tricks bad actors use to keep people from voting. This time the mistake was the bureau's own. More than 23,000 people follow its New Haven account on X, and the post stayed up for hours while users flagged the error.

How a Wrong Date Reached Voters

The X post went up on Monday, 2 November. It pointed to a radio show where FBI staff talked about keeping the vote safe, but it named the wrong day. Within hours, users posted on X, pointing out that Election Day was Tuesday, not Wednesday. A Facebook copy followed at about 3am, the Yale Daily News reported. Journalist Ken Klippenstein shared a screenshot of the X post, and his message appears below.

Pundit Brian Krassenstein complained on X that the FBI post was still up 14 hours after it first appeared. By Tuesday morning, the FBI had deleted it. Christine Jeltema, who speaks for the New Haven office, told the New Haven Independent on Tuesday it 'was removed once the typo was identified.' Snopes, a fact-checking site, found a saved copy of the post but got no further detail from the office.

How State Officials Responded

Thomas put out her statement at around 9am. In capital letters, it told voters the vote was that day. 'Accurate election information matters, especially when it comes from trusted government agencies,' she said in the release. Polls across Connecticut stayed open until 8pm, and anyone in line by then could still vote. Federal law sets Election Day for Congress as the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Thomas told reporters at the state armoury at 10:30am that her team had moved fast to get the post taken down. Staff contacted the New Haven mayor's office, posted their own messages online and alerted local reporters. 'My message to voters is: please don't worry. We've got this covered,' she said. Voting had otherwise gone smoothly across the state, she added. She credited years of planning with election staff and police.

Federal Monitors at the Polls

Thomas's office said New Haven was the only Connecticut city to get Justice Department poll monitors. Mayor Justin Elicker said the monitors visited four polling sites. The city's Democratic and Republican registrars of voters denied them access to polling places, citing state law. The monitors remained outside the 75-foot (about 23-metre) restricted area.

In September, FBI Director Kash Patel told senators that all 56 of the bureau's field offices had an election crimes community coordinator. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal pressed him for a clear commitment that FBI agents would not be deployed to polling places. Thomas said she knew of only three monitors in the city by mid-morning.