A postal worker in Erie, Pennsylvania, claimed that his superiors were backdating postmarks on ballots, then told federal investigators that he didn’t actually know that — and then went back to his original position. Despite the flimsiness of the claim, President Donald Trump and his supporters have used it in their effort to blame widespread election fraud for his electoral defeat.
A misleading claim that more than 21,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania are dead is circulating online. The figure comes from a conservative group that failed to convince a federal judge in October that its list was accurate.
A video from a right-wing activist suggests that U.S. Postal Service employees backdated ballots in Michigan. The claim is unproven, but, even if true, no ballots in the state are accepted after Nov. 3, regardless of the postmark.
A bogus QAnon-related claim that many of the mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 election were illegitimate has spread widely on social media. But the claim is based on the faulty assumption that ballots are produced by the federal government.
The falsehood that votes for President Donald Trump weren’t counted in Arizona because the ballots were filled out with Sharpie pens spread widely on the day after the election. But the county where the claim originated actually recommends that voters use fine tip Sharpies to fill out their ballots.
A story circulating on social media deceptively claims “Bad Things Are Happening in PA.” It overstates the significance of a video that shows a Republican poll watcher being denied access to a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day, and it falsely claims that there was an illegal political sign at another city location.
A video suggesting that there’s been “voter fraud” in Utah has been circulating online, but all it actually shows is a misunderstanding of a poll worker’s mistake on the first day of early, in-person voting. The mistake was corrected and the system worked, as intended.
Q: Can people who cast their ballots in early voting change their vote?
A: In most states, no. By our count, there are eight states that specifically allow for early voters to change their votes.
Eric Trump misleadingly claimed on social media that gasoline was $5 per gallon “under O’Biden,” but “unbelievably good” during his father’s administration. The average retail price of gasoline while Barack Obama was president was $2.97. The average price under President Donald Trump has been $2.49, which includes lower prices due to the pandemic.
The candidates repeated talking points from the stump and added some new twists on the facts.