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Claims of crowdsourced voter fraud could become the basis for Republican lawsuits

Claims of crowdsourced voter fraud could become the basis for Republican lawsuits

As election day approaches, social media is ablaze with users looking for evidence of electoral fraud. Some of these unsubstantiated claims are poised to become the basis for Republican lawsuits challenging the results should former President Donald Trump lose.

A centerpiece of those efforts is an “Electoral Integrity Community” on X, formerly Twitter, set up by owner Elon Musk’s super PAC, which invites users to “share any incidents of voter fraud or irregularities that you see while vote in the 2024 election.”

The feed is full of unverified claims and rumours. A video of a Republican observer suggesting — incorrectly — that ineligible non-citizens can vote as long as they can show a driver’s license has had more than a million views. Other users were suspicious when they were told by poll workers to put their ballots in the boxes, which were a subject of baseless conspiracy theories of 2020. A flurry of posts claimed that voting machines were flipping votes in Georgia and elsewhere, which was it Secretary of State of Georgia and the manufacturer denied it.

“What we’re seeing … is a kind of motivated misinterpretation where people (who are) already skeptical … that the election is trustworthy – they’ve been told by some of their favorite candidates in some cases that we can’t trust the results … if that candidate doesn’t win,” said Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor and co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public, which tracks election rumors.

Viral false claims could fuel lawsuits

While people also collected evidence of alleged fraud during the 2020 election, those who might challenge the election results are more prepared to use the material this time, Starbird said.

“There are lawyers who are prepared to take these rumors, misperceptions, misinterpretations, turn them into affidavits on election day or the following days and try to use them either to challenge whether certain votes are counted in certain places. .either to use them. to try to pressure election officials and others not to certify the results,” Starbird said.

Pollsters and election officials say one of the most prominent narratives circulating this year is the unsubstantiated claim that noncitizens are voting or being allowed to vote in federal elections, giving Democrats an unfair advantage in what is expected to be a very close race .

This baseless narrative has emerged as the main focus of Republican efforts to lay the groundwork to challenge the election result should Trump lose. say experts in electoral law. States have cited it as justification for trying to purge people from the lists. Thousands of eligible voters were captivated by such an effort in Alabama, according to court records. Eligible voters in Texas and virgin they were removed also, although the total number of those affected is not yet clear.

The votes of naturalized citizens are not the only ones challenged by baseless claims. The far right outlet Pundit Gateway claimed that the methods some members of the military and Americans living abroad used to vote were vulnerable to hacking and accused Democrats exploit overseas ballots to fabricate votes.

These rumors also surfaced in 2020 and were debunked. A video Gateway Pundit cited as evidence was actually part of one Iranian influencing the operation cry by the Department of Justice in 2021.

But Trump recently repeated it false statement on its Truth Social platform. Republicans have filed lawsuits challenging the legitimacy of ballots cast by US citizens living abroad, though those challenges have been unsuccessful.

Misinterpreting real-life events, regarding routine work as fish

Many other false narratives about voting are also recycled from years past. Rumors that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems were overturning votes have spread on social media in recent days. That company was the target of conspiracy theories in 2020 that eventually led to a $787 million defamation settlement by Fox News and several ongoing lawsuits.

The posts accusing the company claim that the poster or a friend or relative was finally able to vote the way they wanted when they noticed that the machine’s printed ballot did not match their chosen candidate.

But even if the voters were able to choose their favorite candidates, including important personalities Rep. Marjorie Taylor GreeneR-Ga., who has regularly repeated conspiracy narratives, continued to amplify the allegation that Dominion’s machines could swing votes.

In statements to NPR, Dominion Voting Systems said its machines did not alter any votes and pointed to one the page on it website that addresses common rumors about the company, titled “Setting the Record Straight.”

A voter drops a ballot into a ballot box at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Arizona on October 23, 2024. Both parties told supporters to vote early as concerns about ballot boxes resurface.

Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images

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AFP via Getty Images

A voter drops a ballot into a ballot box at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Arizona on October 23, 2024. Both parties told supporters to vote early as concerns about ballot boxes resurface.

Other easily debunked hoaxes quickly went viral. Republican activist Cliff Maloney, who organizes door knockers to get Pennsylvania Republicans to vote early, said one of his contacts identified 53 voters. registered at a monastery in Erie County where, the contact stated, no one lived. The convent – ​​which actually houses over 50 nuns – quickly went out of business an answer correcting the statement and CNN spoken with the sisters who were registered registered voters.

But Maloney’s response to fact-checking was to double down on his claim. “WRONG,” he wrote on X. The site’s owner, Musk, amplified Maloney’s original claim, but there’s no indication he shared the fact-checks.

Ignoring existing checks and remedies is another common theme of those trying to cast doubt on election results, University of Washington researchers wrote in a September blog post.

High tension inspires high alertness

Both parties have told supporters to vote early, and concerns about ballot boxes have resurfaced. Tri-state delivery boxes were set on fire. Starbird noted that rumors are beginning to circulate around the incidents, but she said they, as well as isolated incidents of stolen ballots, miss a larger point.

“This is indeed problematic for individuals, but it is unlikely to change the results of the election,” she said, noting that one of the rhetorical strategies of election deniers is to exaggerate the impact of events.

Starbird is concerned about the constant vigilance about voter fraud in a country mired for years in Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen from him in 2020 — a worldview that has been embraced by many Republicans and that has affected many Americans. confidence in the vote.

“At best, what this can do is quickly identify problems so election officials can address them. And that’s what we want,” she said. “At worst, what happens is these things get wrapped up in these kinds of false narratives, reinforce (them), and people start to lose faith in the process.”

And that, Starbird said, “can distract poll workers and election officials from the real issues.”

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