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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Falsehood Tells of Withdrawn Pennsylvania Projection

Falsehood Tells of Withdrawn Pennsylvania Projection

Viral social media posts claim that the website RealClearPolitics rescinded a projection that Joe Biden had won Pennsylvania. But the website never called the state in the first place; many other media outlets have made that call.

Image of Newspaper Doctored to Show ‘President Gore’ Headline

Image of Newspaper Doctored to Show ‘President Gore’ Headline

President Donald Trump’s campaign pushed an altered image of a Washington Times front page to cast doubt on the 2020 election calls made by news outlets. The newspaper never ran the purported front page, declaring Al Gore the winner of the 2000 election.

Viral Video Doesn’t Show Fraud by Election Workers in PA

Viral Video Doesn’t Show Fraud by Election Workers in PA

A video from a livestream of the vote-counting process in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, shows election workers transcribing votes from damaged ballots so they could be scanned and recorded, according to the county. Social media users are sharing the video with the false suggestion it shows workers committing voter fraud.

Viral Image Shows Outdated Claims About Detroit Voter Rolls

Viral Image Shows Outdated Claims About Detroit Voter Rolls

Facebook users are sharing a meme that alleges a host of inaccuracies in Detroit’s voter rolls in the context of the 2020 election. But the claims stem from a 2019 lawsuit that was withdrawn after the group that filed it said the city had taken action on the issues.

Viral Video Shows Burning of Sample Ballots, Not Trump Votes

Viral Video Shows Burning of Sample Ballots, Not Trump Votes

A video spread widely on social media falsely purports to show a man burning 80 ballots cast for President Donald Trump. The ballots shown in the video are sample ballots from Virginia Beach, Virginia — as evidenced by the absence of the bar code found on actual ballots — city officials said.

Clerical Error Prompts Unfounded Claims About Michigan Results

Clerical Error Prompts Unfounded Claims About Michigan Results

A data input error that briefly showed an unusually large uptick in votes for Joe Biden in Michigan prompted suspicions online and an unfounded claim of voter fraud. The error came down to a typo by a county’s reporting that was quickly corrected.

False Claim of Voter Intimidation in New Jersey

False Claim of Voter Intimidation in New Jersey

A popular Democratic Facebook page falsely claimed that “Trump supporters are blocking access to polling sites” in a New Jersey town on Election Day. Local police called the report “entirely false.” The photo cited in the post was taken two days earlier.

Antifa ‘False Flag’ Flyer Is an Old Hoax

Antifa ‘False Flag’ Flyer Is an Old Hoax

A viral blog post falsely claims that an “Antifa flyer” shows that left-wing activists are planning to masquerade as supporters of President Donald Trump and riot following the election. The purported flyer cited as evidence has been around since 2017.

Pennsylvania Voters Told to Quarantine Can Still Cast a Ballot

Pennsylvania Voters Told to Quarantine Can Still Cast a Ballot

Pennsylvania voters told to quarantine due to potential COVID-19 exposure are entitled to vote and can request and return an emergency absentee ballot through 8 p.m. on Election Day. A viral Facebook post misleadingly suggests they are being disenfranchised.

Instagram Post Misleads on ‘Ballot Box’ Posters

Instagram Post Misleads on ‘Ballot Box’ Posters

A popular Instagram post suggests nefarious actors are misrepresenting trash cans in Philadelphia as ballot boxes. The signs seen in the images were actually part of a poorly conceived advertising effort for an exhibit about voting rights — and they were quickly removed.