There Have Been A Lot Of Allegations Of Election Fraud, We Looked Into Them
Viral claims about election fraud have spread like wildfire on social media since Election Day. Check Your Fact has been diligently monitoring and debunking viral social media posts making allegations ranging from swing states having more ballots cast than registered voters to ballots being “magically found” overnight.
Here are our checks on claims related to election fraud.
FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show Police Finding Thousands Of Ballots Cast For Trump In A Field?
The video shows deputies in Hebron, Kentucky, recovering Amazon packages on the side of a road, according to a statement from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office. A spokesperson for the Boone County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Check Your Fact that no ballots were discovered in the incident.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/12/fact-check-video-police-ballots-trump-dumped-field-amazon/
FACT CHECK: Did Georgia’s Fulton County Identify 132,000 ‘Likely Ineligible’ Ballots?
The Fulton County Registration and Elections Board said the claim is “false and baseless.” The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office has said there is no evidence of systemic voting issues, according to The Associated Press.
FACT CHECK: Did Wisconsin’s Voter Turnout Rate Jump From 67% In 2016 To 89% In 2020?
The Wisconsin Elections Commission estimates 2020 voter turnout is about 73%. Voter turnout in the state has only increased roughly 5% from 2016.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/06/fact-check-wisconsin-voter-turnout-rate-jump-voter-fraud/
FACT CHECK: Did Virginia Election Workers Take Ballots Home On Election Night?
“Officers of Election do not take ballots home,” Andrea Gaines, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Elections, said in an email to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Ballots are maintained in a secure location.”
FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show Ballots Cast For Trump Being Found In A Georgia Dumpster?
No ballots were found in the dumpster, according to the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office. There were empty envelopes used to mail ballots found in the dumpster.
FACT CHECK: Did An Arizona State Trooper Find 50,000 Ballots Cast For Donald Trump In A Dumpster?
Raul Garcia, a public information officer for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, confirmed to Check Your Fact in an email that the rumor is false, saying, “We are aware of the information being spread and we can tell you it is not true.”
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/10/fact-check-arizona-state-trooper-ballots-donald-trump-dumpster/
FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show Election Workers In Pennsylvania’s Delaware County Committing Voter Fraud?
The video actually shows election workers transcribing information from damaged ballots onto blank ballots so that they could be counted, the Delaware County Bureau of Elections told Check Your Fact in a statement. Pennsylvania’s Election Code requires that “if any ballots or district total cards are damaged or defective so that they cannot be properly counted by the central automatic tabulating equipment, a true duplicate copy shall be made and substituted for any such damaged ballot or card.”
FACT CHECK: Viral Image Falsely Claims Michigan Ballots Marked With Sharpie Will Not Be Counted
Using a Sharpie pen to mark a ballot in Michigan does not result in a person’s vote being invalidated. Sharpies are the “recommended marking instrument by the tabulator manufacturer” and are “preferable to an ink pen,” according to the Michigan Department of State.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/05/fact-check-michigan-ballots-marked-sharpie-not-counted/
FACT CHECK: Viral Image Falsely Claims Wisconsin Had More Votes Cast Than Registered Voters
The Wisconsin Elections Commission said the state had over 3.68 million active registered voters on Nov. 1. The state has same-day voter registration. Voting data from The Associated Press shows that the number of ballots cast in Wisconsin for the presidential election has not exceeded that Nov. 1 figure for active registered voters as of press time.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/04/fact-check-wisconsin-more-votes-cast-registered-voters/
FACT CHECK: Video Falsely Claims To Show ‘Ballot Stuffing’ In Michigan
Jake Rollow, director of communications and external affairs for the Michigan Department of State, confirmed: “That’s not a Michigan ballot box, nor a Michigan ballot tabulator.” The video, which started circulating in 2018, appears to show an incident of ballot stuffing during a Russian election that year. AFP News Agency and the Washington Post at the time identified the location in the video as a polling station in Russia.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/05/fact-check-video-ballot-stuffing-michigan/
FACT CHECK: No, This Video Does Not Show A Man Secretly Wheeling Ballots Into Detroit’s Ballot Counting Center
The Detroit-based news station WXYZ identified the man in the video as one of their photographers. He was loading video equipment – not ballots – into a red wagon, according to the station.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/05/fact-check-video-man-ballots-detroit-voter-fraud/
FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show Ballots Cast For Trump Being Burned?
President Donald Trump’s son, Eric, shared the video on Twitter Nov. 4, claiming it showed someone “burning 80 Trump ballots.” The pieces of paper being burned were sample ballots, not actual ballots, the city of Virginia Beach said.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/05/fact-check-video-ballots-cast-trump-being-burned/
FACT CHECK: Viral Image Claims Michigan ‘Magically Found’ Over 130,000 Votes Cast For Joe Biden
Social media users shared screen grabs of election results graphics from the election data provider Decision Desk HQ that they claimed showed over 130,000 ballots for former Vice President Joe Biden being “magically found” in Michigan overnight. In reality, the increase of 138,339 votes for Biden shown in the screen grabs was the result of a clerical error in Michigan’s Shiawassee County presidential election data that was quickly caught and corrected, according to Decision Desk HQ and Shiawassee County Clerk Caroline Wilson.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/05/fact-check-michigan-found-130000-votes-joe-biden/
FACT CHECK: Viral Video Falsely Claims Ballots Marked With Sharpie Were Invalidated In Arizona
Sharpie pens can be used in Arizona to mark ballots, and the state’s tabulation machines are capable of reading such ballots, per state election officials. If a ballot cannot be read by a tabulation machine, a ballot review board duplicates it to ensure the vote gets counted, as outlined in the Arizona Secretary of State 2019 Elections Procedures Manual.
https://checkyourfact.com/2020/11/04/fact-check-ballots-sharpie-invalidated-arizona/
FACT CHECK: Did A Poll Worker From Pennsylvania’s Erie County Throw Out Ballots Cast For Donald Trump?
The man who posted the Instagram story bragging about allegedly throwing out ballots cast for Trump “does not work in any way with Erie County or have any part of Erie County’s election process,” Erie County Board of Elections Chair Carl J. Anderson III said in a statement. Voters in Erie County use a ballot scanner to cast their completed ballots.
FACT CHECK: Did Queens Residents Receive ‘Pre-Filled Out’ Ballots?
There is no evidence voters in the New York City borough of Queens received pre-marked ballots for Democratic candidates. The New York City Board of Elections called the claim “false” in a pair of tweets, noting that the voter received a blank ballot and that the ballot appeared to be filled out by hand. The absentee voter in California mistakenly used the wrong envelope, resulting in the ballot being sent to the person’s previous address rather than the board of elections.
Misinformation about the 2020 presidential election continues to circulate on social media. Check back for updates.
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