washington
CNN
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Donald Trump told lie after lie in his 2020 election night speech. The former president is up for re-election in 2024, so here are 12 falsehoods to watch out for this week on election night and perhaps the day after.
false declaration of victory
On election night 2020, while vote counting was still underway, Trump announced that he had won various battleground states, but that he had lost, and that he had lost the election. erroneously declared the winner.
Fact Checker Tip: Don’t trust a candidate’s own declaration of victory. Instead, we wait for the major media’s unofficial predictions (commonly known as “calls”) about each state and the winner of the election.
False claims that Harris could not have legitimately won.
There is a very high chance that Trump will win this election. But if Vice President Kamala Harris wins, President Trump could well revive his false claims from before November that the only way for Harris to win was through fraud.
Fact Checker Tip: Know that this claim is nonsense. Polls consistently show a close race between Trump and Harris. There is a fair chance that one of them can win.
False claims that out-of-context videos show malicious behavior
Social media is full of posts misleadingly describing the content of election-related videos. Since 2020, for example, Mr. Trump and his allies have claimed that video captured clear misconduct by two election workers in Georgia who had actually done nothing wrong.
Fact Checker Tip: Before believing that what you see in social media captions appears on a video, seek information from the feeds of state and local election officials and state and local journalists.
Falsely claiming that a well-intentioned mistake was malicious
In 2020, a small county in Michigan made an error in its initial vote reporting, reporting Trump votes as if they were Biden votes. Trump and his allies then capitalized on that mistake, which was quickly corrected but used as the main basis for a massive conspiracy. This theory is an unsubstantiated claim that voting technology was rigged to steal the election.
Fact Checker Tip: When counties across the country process and report more than 150 million ballots, know that there are always some initial mistakes. Human error is always more likely than conspiracy. Ask for proof before assuming these errors are malicious.
False claims that Democratic-majority cities are committing massive fraud
President Trump has long falsely claimed that election fraud is widespread in predominantly Democratic cities with large black populations, including Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and Atlanta.
Fact-checker tip: Request proof of such claims made in 2024. Know that in 2020, there was no evidence of widespread voting fraud or fraud by election officials in Democratic-majority cities or states.
False claims that routine late-night voting reports are questionable
President Trump has repeatedly claimed that there was something wrong with the “mass dump” of votes that appeared to have taken place on election night in 2020. In reality, they were simply counted as normal and added to the public tally as soon as possible.
Tip for fact-checkers: It is normal, not suspicious, that ballots may take longer to count, especially in urban counties with large numbers of voters, and that some votes are reported after midnight on election night. Please know that this is true. Republican state senators in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are also known to have refused to pass legislation that would have allowed for faster counting between the previous election and this one.
False claim that vote counting after election day is questionable
Trump, who infamously called for “stop the counting” in 2020 when results showed Biden briefly ahead, raised unfounded questions about the legitimacy of the vote-counting operation after election night. Sometimes I threw it.
Fact Checker Tip: Know that counting always continues after election night. The media often “calls” campaigns on election night, but these “calls” are unofficial predictions based on incomplete data. The official count will continue until all valid votes have been counted.
False claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud
President Trump has been making false claims about mail-in voting for four years, falsely claiming that mail-in voting is rife with fraud.
Fact Checker Tip: Know that there is no evidence of widespread fraud with mail-in voting. Experts say these ballots are slightly more prone to fraud than in-person voting, but they still represent a small percentage of the votes cast. Trump also encouraged his supporters to vote by mail this year, even though he himself has continued to criticize the practice.
False claims that ballots received after Election Day are illegal
President Trump suggested in 2020 that mail-in ballots received after Election Day were illegal and should not be counted.
Fact Checker Tip: Know that there is nothing illegal about these ballots.
Many states will extend the repayment deadline, in part due to votes cast by military members and citizens living overseas. Other votes may also be legal votes. Some Republican-run states, including Utah, West Virginia and Ohio, allow U.S. residents to count their votes even if they arrive a certain number of days after Election Day. Entries must be postmarked by the deadline on or before Election Day. (However, of this year’s seven battleground states, only Nevada does not require mail-in ballots to arrive by the evening of Election Day.)
False claims that military and overseas voters are not verified
Trump baselessly claimed in September that Democrats were using military and overseas ballots to rig elections, falsely claiming those ballots were being sent to unidentified people.
Tip for fact-checkers: Know that the identities of these voters were verified by their local election office at the time of voter registration.
False claim that non-citizens are voting en masse
President Trump has falsely claimed for years that large numbers of noncitizens illegally voted in presidential elections. For example, it falsely claimed that millions of illegal immigrants voted in California even after winning the 2016 election.
Fact Checker Tip: Know that these claims are false. Although there are a small number of known cases of illegal voting by noncitizens, nonpartisan election law experts say such incidents are almost always uncovered thanks to the multiple layers of identification built into the registration and voting process. It states that it will be done.
False claims on Pennsylvania voter registration applications
President Trump falsely claimed that more than 2,000 fake “votes” were discovered in one Pennsylvania county in the week leading up to Election Day.
Fact Checker Tip: Know that this county’s issue does not involve actual voting. Rather, these were voter registration applications that were considered suspicious and subject to investigation.
