FOCUS ON THE FACTS: A look at false and misleading claims surrounding the 2024 election

A constant stream of false and misleading information is circulating online surrounding the 2024 election. Since early voting began there have been false reports about former President Donald Trump’s ballots being destroyed in Pennsylvania; more registered voters than those eligible to vote in Michigan; and a voter’s choice being “flipped” by a Dominion voting machine in Georgia.

Here’s a look at the facts.

The video of the destruction of Trump’s ballots in Pennsylvania was fabricated

CLAIM: Video shows ballots marked for Trump being destroyed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, while those for Vice President Kamala Harris were returned to their envelopes to be counted.

THE FACTS: The Bucks County Board of Elections identified the video as “fake” Thursday afternoon.

“The envelope and materials shown in this video are clearly not authentic materials owned or distributed by the Bucks County Board of Elections,” the board said in a statement. The video was reported to the authorities.

Bob Harvie and Diane Ellis-Marseglia, president and vice president of the board, respectively, called the video “dangerous misinformation” in a joint statement.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said in an emailed statement Thursday night that they and the Yardley County Police Department investigated the video and “concluded that this video was fabricated in an attempt to undermine confidence in the next elections”.

The X user who popularized the inauthentic video previously shared multiple narratives created by a Russian disinformation network known as Storm-1516 or CopyCop, raising questions about whether it originated as part of a foreign influence campaign.

— Associated Press writers Melissa Goldin and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

Posts Spread Misinformation About Michigan Voter Rolls

Claim: Michigan has 500,000 more registered voters than people eligible to vote, creating the potential for widespread fraud.

THE FACTS: This lacks context. While the state has more voter registrations than eligible voters, that number includes voters who are inactive but cannot yet be removed from the voter rolls under federal and state laws. The number of active voters is far smaller than those eligible to vote, and experts say there is no reason to believe widespread fraud will occur.

Still, numerous social media users suggested the numbers were proof that Michigan is trying to cheat in the 2024 election. Among them was billionaire X owner Elon Musk, who has pledged at least $70 million of dollars in support of Trump.

“Jocelyn Michelle Benson, shame on you for blatantly lying to the public!” Musk wrote in a post X addressed to the Michigan secretary of state. “You only plan to remove ineligible voters AFTER this election. “That necessarily means there are many more people registered to vote than there are eligible voters.”

Benson responded on X, stating: “Let’s be clear: @elonmusk is spreading dangerous misinformation. Here are the facts: There are no more voters than citizens in Michigan. There are 7.2 million active registered voters and 7.9 voting-age citizens in our state. “Musk is pushing a misleading figure that includes 1.2 million inactive records scheduled for deletion under the law.”

Musk did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

There were approximately 7.9 million people of voting age in Michigan as of July 1, 2023. This number is 500,000 fewer than the total number of registered voters: approximately 8.4 million. But that’s because the total number of registered voters includes 1.2 million inactive voters. Those labeled inactive have not voted for six consecutive years or have not responded to a notice confirming their residency. Inactive voters still have the right to vote.

Under state and federal law, voters are only removed from voter rolls after they have been sent notice that their registration is subject to cancellation and two subsequent federal election cycles have passed without any response or voting activity. Voter registration cannot be canceled solely for failure to vote.

This waiting period is the reason there are more registered than eligible voters in the state.

More than 339,000 voter registrations are scheduled to be canceled in 2025 and more than 257,000 in 2027. As of March 2024, Michigan had canceled more than 800,000 voter registrations since 2019, including 273,609 for potential residency changes, 532,513 for deaths, and 16,716 for applications. . of the voter, according to his State Department.

The Republican National Committee and two individual voters filed a federal lawsuit in March against Benson and Michigan Elections Office Director Jonathan Brater for allegedly failing to “maintain clean and accurate voter registration records.” The lawsuit was dismissed Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering, who said the plaintiffs lacked standing and anyway failed to present a plausible claim.

Michigan is not the only state with a large number of inactive voters on its rolls. All states except the six that are exempt from the National Voter Registration Act must send voters a cancellation notice and wait two federal election cycles before removing inactive voters.

The large number of inactive voters is a sign of strong list maintenance, according to David Becker, founder and executive director of the Center for Election Research and Innovation, who served as co-chair of the Michigan Election Security Advisory Commission.

Read the full fact check here.

—Melissa Goldin

Georgia voting machines do not reverse votes

CLAIM: A Dominion voting machine in Whitfield County, Georgia, reversed a vote to a candidate not marked by the voter.

THE FACTS: That is false. The Whitfield County Board of Elections and Recorders issued a press release on October 19, noting that the case involved one voter out of 6,000 votes cast since early voting began on October 15. The vote was voided and the voter cast a replacement that was counted. Officials said there was no problem with the voting machine.

Gabriel Sterling, director of operations for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, said every report they’ve seen so far of someone saying their paper ballot doesn’t reflect their selections on the touch-screen voting machine has been a result of a voter error.

The remarks followed a post by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who claimed on X that a voting machine had changed a voter’s ballot in her Georgia district during early voting. He later updated his post to include a statement from county election officials explaining what happened and thanking them for resolving the issue.

Whitfield County election officials said in the news release that the voter noticed when reviewing his paper ballot that it did not reflect his choice. An election worker helped the voter mark their choice and cast their vote.

“Georgia law allows voters to void their paper ballot if they make an incorrect selection on the ballot marking device. If a voter requests to change their selection, they are immediately given a new opportunity to make and print the correct choice,” officials said.

They noted that if there was reason to suspect the machine was making a mistake, it would be taken out of service. No machines were out of service, county election officials said.

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