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President Donald Trump continues to complain about the US elections. Since then, several false or misleading posts about the vote have started circulating on social media. Although no evidence has been provided, Donald Trump and his campaign field have cited several of these posts in their speeches and statements that question the credibility of the US elections.
The BBC reality check team has investigated five of those allegations.
Were Michigan votes cast in favor of the dead?
The message, which went viral on Twitter, claimed that the dead had been voted in Michigan, one of the main states in the United States.
Michigan authorities retaliated by calling the allegations “misinformation.” They also said that any vote on behalf of the dead was canceled.
The viral tweets mention some people whose absentee ballots were sent, who were born and died a hundred years ago.
An analysis of said tweet found that the person whose name was mentioned there was mistaken for his father’s name. According to the Politifact website, his father died. Although their names and addresses are one. Michigan officials told the site that the boy’s ballot was incorrectly entered into the voting system on behalf of the father.
The BBC has analyzed some more accusations of voting with the names of the dead, in most cases creating the same confusion since father and son have the same name. This has also happened due to technical problems. As such, voters were often asked to give an ordered date of birth, as they could not initially find the voter registration number online.
The rumors have also been shared many times from the accounts of Donald Trump Jr. (who also shares his father’s name) and Brexit party leader Nigel Farage.
There was nothing wrong with computer software in Michigan
An online post has been shared numerous times where votes cast on behalf of Donald Trump have been counted in the name of Joe Biden, forgetting a computer software in Michigan.
A tweet from Republican Senator Ted Cruz, which was retweeted by Donald Trump, caused it to spread widely. That said, there could be issues with software that has been used throughout the state.
Only one county (a small area in the state) initially had such a problem, where votes were mistakenly cast in Biden’s name. But Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said he was quickly caught and corrected.
He said the initial error was human error, not software error.
The viral post claims that similar problems could arise in 48 other Michigan counties, where the same software has been used.
Benson said there was no evidence that the same mistake was made statewide.
The ‘Sharpie’ ink vote was not canceled
Another battlefield was the widespread rumor in Arizona that Republican voters were given a sharp ballpoint pen (a mark of permanent marker) when voting.
In a widely circulated video, a woman explains how voting machines with this type of ink cannot read.
A person behind the camera said that these votes were not being counted and that people were forced to use sharp pens for the purpose of spoiling the vote.
The post, which was spread on social media, claimed that the vote had been rigged and that many of Trump’s votes had been invalidated.
But this claim is false.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs confirmed on Twitter that if she voted in person, her vote would be counted. It doesn’t matter what type of pen you use (sharp though).
He later told CNN: “If for some reason the machine cannot count the votes, we still have the method to count them.” They will also be counted. There is no basis for such a conspiracy to invalidate the Republican vote.
Michigan wrong vote map
A Michigan voting map released on Election Night, showing a surge of 130,000 votes for Joe Biden, but no votes for Donald Trump, has gone viral on social media.
The photo was shared by President Donald Trump himself. As a result, the discussion about vote fraud has increased. In fact, it is very common for a state official to add a large portion of the votes counted at once as a vote count. But the question that has spread on social media is why no votes were cast for Donald Trump in this update.
The answer is: it was a mistake in the inclusion of information, which was later corrected.
Election observers website Decision Desk, which created the map, said: “It was a common error in the files created by the state, which were included in the map. When the state detects the error, it submits another updated account.
“Such mistakes can happen on election night, and our idea is that others in Michigan who have counted the votes have made the same mistake and corrected it almost immediately, as have we,” the agency said.
Twitter has tagged the post from those who have expressed skepticism, saying: “This tweet contains controversy over partial or complete information and could create confusion about the elections or the civic process.”
Matt McWeek, whose post Donald Trump re-shared on Twitter, apologized himself for removing the post, though the image has remained on the internet world due to being widely shared.
The Michigan Elections Office said it would not comment on the discrepancy. However, he said that the election results are still at an unofficial stage and the final count has not been completed.
There are no more voters in Wisconsin than registered voters
Another widely circulated false claim is that more voters than the total number of voters listed in Wisconsin voted.
One Twitter user wrote: “Breaking down: Wisconsin has more votes than registered voters.” There are 31 lakh 29 thousand registered voters but 32 bodies 39,920 have cast their votes. This is direct evidence of forgery.
But your information on the number of voters is old. As of November 1, the state of Wisconsin had 38,64,828 voters.
Participation in Wisconsin is much higher this year than in previous years.
You can also register to vote on Election Day in this state. This means that the last number of registered voters is likely to increase on Election Day.
Source: BBC
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