Shifting Landscape of US Election Fraud Claims After Trump’s Win

Prior to Tuesday’s US election, social media was inundated with allegations of voter fraud; however, these discussions significantly diminished once Donald Trump’s win became clear. Nevertheless, these allegations did not cease completely. Several right-wing influencers and organizations, promoting narratives of “cheating” and a “rigged” vote, highlighted incomplete vote counts and persisted in reiterating discredited theories from the 2020 election. Concurrently, disillusioned Democratic Party supporters formulated their own unverified theories regarding voter fraud, with some gaining widespread traction on X, previously known as Twitter, and other digital platforms. The extent of these posts’ dissemination does not compare to the massive volume of content that circulated following Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election. Furthermore, given the absence of endorsement from the losing candidate Kamala Harris or other Democratic Party officials, the likelihood appears low for a significant movement to emerge, akin to the “Stop the Steal” initiative from four years prior, which culminated in civil unrest at the US Capitol. The BBC monitored a substantial surge of fraud allegations leading up to the election, which continued throughout election day and into the night. Among these were assertions that the vote was “stolen” in certain crucial swing states, with amplified interpretations of actual occurrences sometimes employed to reinforce these claims. On election day, in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, a Republican-leaning area, voting machines experienced malfunctions. These problems were resolved, and polling hours in the impacted locations were prolonged. Nevertheless, numerous online users promptly leveraged this incident to imply the occurrence of illicit activities. A post published at 08:45 local time on Tuesday stated: “The election steal is happening!” Additional rumors circulated in posts appearing throughout the day, such as one around 14:00, which alleged that ballots in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, had been pre-marked for Kamala Harris. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city within a swing state, election officials opted to re-process approximately 30,000 ballots as an “abundance of caution” after the rear doors of voting machines were discovered open. Upon completion of the tally, it indicated a decrease in support for Harris compared to Joe Biden’s performance four years prior. Similar to many pro-Trump commentators, Harris’s supporters cited genuine but isolated incidents—such as fires at ballot drop boxes in Washington and Oregon, and multiple false bomb threats that interfered with voting at various polling sites on election day—as proof of widespread voter fraud. Nevertheless, no evidence suggests that these occurrences substantially impacted the vote or altered the final result. Numerous posts from Democratic Party activists challenging the outcome achieved viral status, reaching millions of viewers on X and other platforms. Pam Keith, a Harris supporter residing in Florida, queried in a post: “Is it possible that the machines were hacked to switch the tallies from Harris to Trump?” This message garnered over one million views on X, based on the platform’s metrics. The BBC has contacted her for a statement. In contrast to Trump’s 2020 campaign, however, the Harris campaign and senior Democratic Party officials have refrained from endorsing claims of cheating or voter fraud. On election day, allegations of fraud also originated from President-elect Trump, who has consistently contended throughout his political career that the electoral system is unfairly biased against him. Shortly after 16:30, Trump published a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, stating: “A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia. Law Enforcement coming!!!” The current president-elect provided no specific details, and the Philadelphia Police Department informed BBC Verify that they had no knowledge of the matter Trump was referencing. Seth Bluestein, the Republican City Commissioner for Philadelphia, posted on X: “There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure.” Trump has not reiterated these fraud allegations since election day. We reached out to several highly influential accounts that consistently shared election fraud claims in the period leading up to the vote, but none provided a response. Utilizing data firm NodeXL, the BBC monitored accounts that interacted with Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Elon Musk on X during the election period. Mentions of vote fraud in posts reached their highest point at 15:00 EST on 5 November, subsequently declining considerably that evening and into the following day as polling stations closed and results began to emerge. Nevertheless, certain organizations and activists who had previously advanced voter fraud allegations persisted in disseminating discredited rumors even after the election results were apparent. Emerald Robinson, a former reporter for right-wing TV networks and a pro-Trump influencer boasting over 750,000 followers on X, asserted that Democrats were “cheating right now” and declared: “I always told people the voting machines were rigged!” Broadly, the responses from pro-Trump groups and influencers who had previously amplified vote fraud claims diverged, ranging from complete silence on the matter to persistent assertions that the 2020 election was tainted by fraud. The BBC sought comment from Ms Robinson. Separately, an online chart that gained widespread circulation purported to illustrate a significant decrease in 2024 vote totals compared to 2020. Numerous individuals are citing these figures as “proof” of fraud. Conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, a Trump advocate known for promoting voter fraud theories, posted the day following the election: “Kamala got 60 million votes in 2024. Does anyone really believe Biden got 80 million in 2020? Where did those 20 million Democratic voters go? The truth is, they never existed.” Nevertheless, the chart and the online figures were derived from preliminary vote counts, which are still increasing as final results are compiled. Currently, Harris has accumulated over 69 million votes, while Trump has surpassed 73 million. As of Friday, fewer than two million ballots nationwide, including those in states like Arizona and California, remained to be counted, as reported by Reuters. The BBC reached out to Mr D’Souza for comment. These identical figures are also contributing to conspiracy theories among Harris’s supporters, who question the whereabouts of their “missing” voters while overlooking the common phenomenon of fluctuating turnouts and preferences, which often change significantly between elections. Supporters from both political factions are also highlighting discrepancies in vote counts for Harris and other Democratic candidates vying for Senate positions. However, US voters are not mandated to support candidates exclusively from a single party, and “ticket-splitting”—the practice of voting for candidates from different parties across various races—though less frequent now, remains a relatively common occurrence in American politics. The University of Florida’s Election Lab turnout tracker indicates a slightly reduced voter turnout in 2024 compared to 2020, specifically 62.5% versus just over 66%. Further reporting was contributed by Shayan Sardarizadeh and Merlyn Thomas. What do you want BBC Verify to investigate? Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC states it is not accountable for the content of external sites and directs readers to information about its external linking policy.