DISINFO: There was widespread fraud at the 2020 US Presidential election

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

AI translations:

DISINFO: There was widespread fraud at the 2020 US Presidential election

SUMMARY

Voter turnout during the election beat not just historical, but even mathematical records. Turnout in Florida, Wisconsin, and Nevada reached 102%, 101%, and 125% respectively.

In Detroit, the view of the vote-counting process was obstructed with cardboard screens.

In Wisconsin, the number of votes cast exceeded the number of the state’s residents by 100,000.

RESPONSE

The story is part of an emerging pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative seeking to delegitimise the conduct and results of the 2020 US Presidential election.

The allegation that turnout exceeded 100% in multiple states is false, and is likely based on a widely shared social media post. The post includes a table which purportedly demonstrates impossibly high turnout in eight different states, and thus suggests that election results in those states were obtained fraudulently. However, the voter registration numbers listed in the table are based on outdated statistics from the US Census Bureau, whereas the "Projected Votes" column cites 2020 election data. See further debunking of this claim by AFP and Snopes.

The vote count in Detroit was not hidden from observers, and the use of cardboard screens was certainly not designed to conceal improper practices. On the contrary, according to an attorney for the City of Detroit, the view of the ballot-counting area was partially restricted out of "concern [that] voter information could be wrongfully revealed to the public. Those concerns were compounded by the fact that protesters standing outside the ballot-counting area were taking photographs and recording video."

Lastly, the claim that the number of votes cast in Wisconsin exceeded the total number of the state's residents is false and, just like the above-mentioned allegations concerning voter turnout, based on outdated numbers. See here for up-to-date voter registration statistics for Wisconsin, and here for additional debunking by the BBC.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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