Category Archives: FactCheck.org

Quick Take  In a clip from Fox News’ coverage of the Georgia Senate runoff, the vote tallies for both candidates briefly drop by thousands of votes. Social media posts use the clip to falsely claim election fraud. The Associated Press, which provided the data to Fox, said the clip shows a brief overestimate of votesContinue reading “Human Error, Not Fraud, Shown in Fox Election Coverage of Georgia Runoff”

SciCheck Digest Country singer Jake Flint died unexpectedly on Nov. 27, just hours after his wedding. Social media posts baselessly insinuate Flint died because of the COVID-19 vaccine. The 37-year-old singer received his second dose more than a year before his death, and his representative said Flint’s death was “not related in any way” toContinue reading “Country Singer’s Death Not Related to COVID-19 Vaccine”

Quick Take  About 540,000 voters went to polling places in Arizona’s Maricopa County on Election Day, including roughly 250,000 who voted in person and over 290,000 who dropped off mail-in and provisional ballots, according to election officials. But online posts falsely claim that while 540,000 voters went to the polls, county officials only counted 248,000Continue reading “Posts Mislead on Number of Election Day Votes in Maricopa County”

Quick Take Social media posts falsely suggest there was fraud in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, citing a TV graphic that showed Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano with nearly 500,000 more votes than Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro, but Mastriano trailing 41.6% to 56.6%. The graphic showed inaccurate numbers that were quickly corrected on air. Full StoryContinue reading “Inaccurate TV Graphic Sparks Erroneous Claims of Election Fraud in Pennsylvania”

Quick Take Florida law allows election officials to start counting early in-person and mail-in ballots before Election Day. But social media posts falsely claim Florida counted all of its more than 7 million votes in five hours on Election Day and states that took longer committed “voter fraud.” Most states don’t allow vote counting to begin until ElectionContinue reading “Posts Misrepresent How Florida Arrived at Quick Election Results”

Quick Take Dominion voting machines have had no issues reading ballots filled out with Sharpie pens. But an Instagram video spread the false claim that ballots filled out with Sharpies could not be counted by voting machines in Pennsylvania’s 2022 election. A Pennsylvania Department of State spokesperson said the claim is “disinformation.” Full Story PennsylvaniaContinue reading “Bogus ‘Sharpiegate’ Claim Resurfaces in Pennsylvania Election”

Quick Take Pennsylvania uses a “not verified” code on mail-in ballot applications if a voter’s identity couldn’t be immediately verified; voters have six days after an election to submit a valid ID. But an Instagram post and some Republican leaders — including former President Donald Trump — falsely claim the state has “sent out 249,000Continue reading “Posts Misrepresent ‘Not Verified’ Code on Pennsylvania Ballot Applications”

Quick Take Millions of Arizona voters requested ballots to vote early in the 2022 election. Early voting results cannot be released until after the election, and ballot security measures prevent widespread voter fraud. Yet a viral video advises Republicans not to vote early, making the baseless claim that it could show Democrats how many votesContinue reading “Viral Video Spouts Baseless Claim About Early Voting in Arizona”

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, is running ads on TV and social media that distort Democratic House candidate Josh Riley’s positions on crime. One ad misleadingly claims that the New York Democrat said he “supports help not handcuffs” for criminals. Another ad from the super PAC accurately says that Riley is supported by the Working FamiliesContinue reading “Super PAC Ads Distort New York Congressional Candidate’s ‘Help Not Handcuffs’ Quote”

In TV and social media ads, Club for Growth Action misleadingly edited remarks by independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin of Utah to make it appear he said that “the Republican base is racist.” In fact, McMullin said “there is an element of the Republican base that is racist,” and that the party’s leaders won’t stand up to them for fearContinue reading “Ad from Super PAC Misleadingly Edits Utah Candidate’s Comments About Republican Base”