Don't believe everything you read online
Good morning, friends of The Short List!
It feels like it's been months since Joe Biden was elected America's next president. But since last Saturday, we've noticed a ton of misinformation swirling around the interwebs about the election. We fact-checked viral ones and found a whole lot of false claims, from allegations of ballots "magically" appearing overnight and claims of disenfranchisement to reports of inflated voter turnout. Here are a few to tell your conspiracy theorist friends:
- Allegation: Arizona elections officials handed voters Sharpies, a type of pen that, when used, invalidates a ballot.
- Truth: The Arizona secretary of state said ballots filled out with Sharpies would be counted.
- Allegation: An early morning spike in Wisconsin's vote tally was a sign of fraud.
- Truth: The increase came when Milwaukee's absentee ballots, which take longer to process than those cast in person, were counted. It was not a sign of fraud.
- Allegation: Some Democrat-led states stopped counting ballots to assure Biden remained in the lead.
- Truth: Election officials in every state are counting every ballot. Pauses or delays in posting results were anticipated because absentee ballots take longer to count.
Now, how about some Saturday long reads? 👇