Beware of this falsehood on election night

Donald Trump told lies after lies in his 2020 election night speech. With the former president running again in 2024, here are 12 possible false statements to watch out for on election night this week — and possibly in the days to come.

False claims of victory

As votes were still being counted on election night in 2020, Trump incorrectly stated that he was a winner in various swing states he turned out to lose — and that he was an election winner, he turned out to be a loser.

Fact-checking tip: Don’t trust any candidate’s victory claims. Instead, wait for the mainstream media’s unofficial predictions (known as “calls”) for the winner of each state and election.

False claims that Harris could not win legally

It is possible that Trump will win this election. But if Vice President Kamala Harris wins, Trump may well revive it pre-fall false statements that the only way Harris can win is by cheating.

Fact-checking tip: Know that this statement is nonsense. Opinion polls show Trump and Harris in a close race. It could have been won, fair and square, by either of them.

False claims that out-of-context videos show inappropriate behavior

Social networks are full of posts that misrepresent what is happening in election-related videos. In 2020 and later, for example, Trump and his allies claimed that the video captured egregious illegal acts by two Georgia election workers who were without actually doing anything wrong.

Fact-checking tip: Before you believe a video shows what a social media caption says, check the feeds of state and local election officials and state and local journalists.

False claims that bona fide errors were malicious

In 2020, a small county in the state of Michigan has created error in his initial report of the votes, reporting Trump’s votes as if they were Biden’s – and Trump and his allies used this error, which was immediately corrected, as the main basis for a widespread conspiracy theory that baselessly claims that the voting technology was rigged , to steal the election.

Fact-checking tip: Be aware that there is always a small amount of initial error when counties across the country process and report more than 150 million votes. Human error is always more likely than conspiracy; look for evidence before attributing these errors to malicious intent.

False claims that Democrat-dominated cities cheat massively

For years, Trump falsely claimed that the vast majority of democratic cities large black populationsuch like Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and Atlantarife with election fraud.

Fact-checking tip: Request evidence for any similar claims made in 2024. Know that in 2020, there was no evidence of any widespread voter fraud or any election fraud in any Democratic-dominated city or state.

False claims that routine late-night voting reports are suspect

Trump has repeatedly asserted that there was something wrong with the alleged “dumping” of votes during the night elections in 2020. In fact, these were normal votes, counted as usual and added to the public totals as quickly as possible.

Fact-checking tip: Be aware that vote counting takes time, especially in densely populated urban districts with large numbers of voters, and that it is normal, not suspicious, for some votes to be reported after midnight on election night. Also be aware that Republican state senators are in swing states Wisconsin and pennsylvania refused to pass legislative proposals between the last election and this one that would have allowed the count to be accelerated.

False statements that post-election day vote counts are suspect

Trump, who is infamous appointed in 2020 “STOP THE COUNTING” when the count showed he had a provisional lead over Biden, sometimes unreasonably questioned the legitimacy of the vote count after election night.

Fact-checking tip: Know that counting always continues after election night. While the media often “calls” races on election night, these “calls” are unofficial predictions based on incomplete data. The official count continues until all valid votes have been counted.

False claims that postal ballots are full of fraud

Trump has for four years made false claims about mail-in ballots, falsely claiming they were rife with fraud.

Fact-checking tip: Know that there is no evidence of widespread mail-in ballot fraud; Although experts say there is slightly more fraud with these ballots than with in-person voting, it’s still a tiny percentage of votes. Besides, Trump himself urged supporters to vote by mail this year, just like him continued to criticize ballots for voting by mail.

False claims that ballots received after Election Day are illegitimate

Trump suggested in 2020, ballots received by mail after Election Day are illegitimate and will not be counted.

Fact-checking tip: Know that there is nothing illegitimate about these ballots.

Some of them are the voices of military personnel and other citizens living abroad get extended return deadlines in many states. Others may also be legitimate votes: even some states are run by Republicansincluding Utah, West Virginia and Ohio, allow ballots from U.S. residents to be counted, even if they arrive a certain number of days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked on or before the Election Day deadline. (this year seven states of oscillation(However, Nevada is the only state where ballots do not have to be mailed in until the evening of Election Day.)

False statements about the lack of verification of military and foreign voters

Trump unfoundedly stated in September that Democrats used military and foreign ballots to cheat on elections by falsely saying that those ballots were being sent to people whose identities had not been verified.

Fact-checking tip: know that the identities of these voters were verified by their local electoral commissions when they registered to vote.

False claims that non-citizens vote en masse

Trump has falsely claimed for years that large numbers of non-citizens vote illegally in presidential elections. For example, even after he won the 2016 election, he is wrong claimed that millions of undocumented immigrants voted in California.

Fact-checking tip: Know that these statements are false. THERE ARE a tiny number known cases of illegal non-citizen voting – and non-partisan election law experts say such cases are almost always detected by the layers of identity verification built into the registration and voting process.

False statements about Pennsylvania voter registration

A week before election day, Trump made a mistake claimed that more than 2,000 fake “votes” were found in one Pennsylvania county.

Fact-checking tip: Know that the question in this district was not about actual votes. Rather, it was voter registration applications which were considered suspicious and placed under investigation.

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