the claim: a preliminary audit in georgia found 30,000 ‘false votes’
Another review of ballots in Georgia’s most populous county has inspired a wave of misinformation about the results of the 2020 presidential election.
on may 21, a georgia judge agreed to open more than 145,000 absentee ballots in a case alleging atlanta-based fulton county mishandled ballots. The review is one of a series of efforts to challenge election results in states such as Arizona and New Hampshire.
neither of those efforts will change the outcome of the 2020 election, but an image in a facebook post from May 27 says that the review of georgia has already discovered a fraud.
“preliminary audit finds 30,000 fake ballots that are on the wrong paper, have no folds and have been filled by a machine,” reads the text on the image, which has more than 1,000 shares.
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ever since president joe biden defeated incumbent donald trump in georgia by more than 12,000 votes, the state has been a hotbed of misinformation about voter fraud. but three separate audits found no evidence of irregularities affecting the state’s election results, and the review mentioned in the post has yet to begin.
usa today contacted the facebook user who shared the post for comment.
three audits found no fraud
georgia’s secretary of state’s office has audited the state’s election results three times. none of those audits turned up evidence of widespread fraud.
“our law enforcement officers and the secretary of state’s office spent literally thousands of hours sifting through ballots in fulton county and other counties trying to track down these types of claims, and so far we haven’t seen anything that gives you any merit”. Gabriel Sterling, Republican Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, in a recent interview with CNN.
In an audit, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation analyzed absentee ballots in Cobb County and found no evidence of fraud. Lawsuits challenging the results of the 2020 election in Georgia have failed, and the state’s Republican Secretary of State has repeatedly struck down allegations of voter fraud.
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A fourth review of absentee ballots in Fulton County also found no fraud.
because the review has not been done yet.
A judge had planned to consider procedures for reviewing the ballots, which will not leave Fulton County custody, on May 28. But the meeting was postponed because the county has filed motions to dismiss the case, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The Facebook post’s claim of 30,000 “fake ballots” appears to come from a recent episode of “War Room” featuring Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House chief of strategy. John Fredericks, a conservative radio host, claimed on the show that affidavits from four people who were in the room during a recount say that as many as 30,000 ballots are fake.
As Politifact reported, those affidavits contain unverified allegations about the integrity of the absentee ballots, including claims that they were unfolded and came on different paper. they do not prove that 30,000 ballots were produced.
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The affidavits have been promoted by voterga, a group co-founded by favorite garland, one of the plaintiffs in the case seeking to review absentee ballots in fulton county. In the past, Favorite has promoted conspiracy theories about 9/11 and the assassination of John F. kennedy.
usa today has contacted the georgia secretary of state’s office for comment, but did not provide one on record.
our rating: false
the claim that a preliminary audit in georgia found 30,000 “false votes” is false, according to our investigation. Three separate audits of the 2020 election results in Georgia found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. A review of absentee ballots in Fulton County has not yet begun, and affidavits related to that review do not prove that 30,000 ballots were fabricated.
our fact checking sources:
- michelle noonan, may 27, facebook
- associated press, may 25, it’s not just arizona: push to revise 2020 ballot differentials
- atlanta journal-constitution, may 21, georgia headed for another presidential election review
- national archives, accessed may 28, 2020 electoral college results
- secretary of state of georgia brad raffensperger, accessed 28 May, 3 November 2020 : general election
- usa today, dec. 14, 2020, fact check: video of georgia’s ‘suitcase’ lacks context
- usa today, dec. Jan 2, 2020 Fact Check: Video Claim Domain Tech Manipulated Georgia Votes Is False
- Used Today, Dec. Jan 16, 2020, fact check: claim of increased votes in georgia for biden after pipeline burst at counting site is false
- usa today, jan. 3, fact check: trump’s fabricated claims about fake georgia votes in controversial phone call
- cnn, may 23, georgia election official gabriel sterling says latest audit in atlanta is fueled by trump’s big lie</li
- brad raffensperger, georgia secretary of state, accessed may 28, 3rd attack on voter fraud claims means they’re out after signature audit failed fraud found
- georgia public broadcast, may 25, what’s happening with fulton county absentee ballots?
- atlanta journal-constitution, may 27, ballot inspection seeks elusive evidence of georgia election fraud
- politifact, may 27, claim of ‘mistake’ ballots in fulton county, ga., based on indictment unverified
- voterga, May 24, the court rules that it was unsealed f Ulton Co. mail-in ballots voterga’s 3rd victory in ballot inspection case
- kari carwile, may 22, facebook
- usa today, jan. 6 By The Numbers: President Donald Trump’s Failed Efforts To Nullify The Election
- USA Today, Nov. Jan 30, 2020, ‘Fantastic Claims, Half-Truths, Misinformation’: Georgia Official Says Trump Supporters Misled
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