Election Fraud

Could a man who claimed in a viral video that he had a stack of unclaimed ballots mailed to voters who had moved use them to vote for Spencer Pratt for mayor of Los Angeles as he claimed? No, that's not true: The ballots appeared to be for a precinct in West Hollywood, which is a separate city from Los…

Are 315,000 unsigned early votes in Fulton County, Georgia proof of electoral fraud? No, that's not true: The Georgia secretary of state told Lead Stories that the missing signatures on tabulator results were the consequence of a clerical error and did not invalidate legally cast votes. An election expert told Lead Stories that the minor administrative error did not affect…

Has Tina Peters been "fully pardoned" by Donald Trump, wiping out her prison sentence for giving unauthorized access to Mesa County, Colorado, voting machines in 2021, when she was county clerk? No, that's not true: Trump's "pardon" of Peters is only symbolic, not official. The U.S. Constitution grants the President power to pardon only those criminals facing federal charges. Peters,…

Did a video of a social media user claiming to be about to cast a ballot for Zohran Mamdani "six or seven times" in the 2025 New York City mayoral election capture a self-incriminating admission of voter fraud? No, that's not true: The clip was part of a viral trend in which people would post videos of themselves saying "six…

Was Democratic politician Stacey Abrams indicted in Georgia for voter fraud? No, that's not true: The false claim was made on a self-described satire page whose logo was removed from the variations of the claim later spread by other accounts. No credible news organization reported on the existence of the purported lawsuit. The claim originated from a post (archived here)…

Did The Economic Times article that declared Kamala Harris won the 2024 election cite reports that concluded voting systems were rigged for Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The reports referred to by The Economic Times all stop short of declaring the election was stolen. Instead, those writers whom The Economic Times cited said there are questions about software and…

Was the latest book by Kamala Harris yanked from the shelves after it was found to be 30% plagiarized? No, that's not true: The former vice president has authored three books as of June 2025, including the last two published in 2019. Each of those books is still available for purchase online and in bookstores. Her first book, which was…

Was pro-Trump Cuban activist Hector Luis Valdes Cocho detained by ICE and held for possible deportation from the United States? Yes, that's true: Valdes Cocho, who was exiled from Cuba to the U.S. in 2022 because of his political activism, was initially arrested in November 2024, on state fraud and traffic charges in Florida. ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)…

Did Sheriff Joe Arpaio hold a press conference on Barack Obama's birth certificate in February 2025? No, that's not true: The posted footage of the press conference held by the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona is from 2016, not 2025 as is implied by a post on social media. The press conference was documented by local media in 2016.…

Did the Federal Emergency Management Agency fraudulently send $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to "house illegal migrants"? It's complicated: A New York City Hall spokesperson told Lead Stories that New York "never paid luxury-hotel rates" and that about a third of the $59 million -- around $19 million -- covered "direct hotel costs." A Department of…