Did a Republican poll watcher in Arizona have access to voter check-in information where she claims to have seen evidence that 200 extra ballots were counted? No, that's not true: The Maricopa County Elections Department told Lead Stories that "[p]olitical [p]arty observers do not have access to voter check-in data," plus "there are processes in place every election to reconcile…

Do large downticks in cumulative voting graphs for the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate and governor's races prove election fraud? No, that's not true: Edison Research, which supplies election data to news organization websites, told Lead Stories that the downticks shown by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell on social media and on his Frank Speech website -- totaling tens of thousands of…

Does a video show an "Iranian whistleblower" revealing how they hacked a federal voter registration database during the U.S. 2020 election and created fraudulent overseas ballots? No, that's not true: The footage -- shown at an election integrity event in October -- includes a screen recording that the U.S. Justice Department already determined is intended to mislead people. It does…

Does a photograph of a packed street in the city of Sao Paulo show thousands of Brazilians protesting against alleged voter fraud after the country's 2022 presidential election? No, that's not true: The picture is from a 2016 protest against corruption. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on November 13, 2022, with the title "Brazil is Doing This Correct…

Are zip ties being attached to trash cans outside homes in a Texas college town to target the women who live there for assault? No, that's not true: Police in College Station, Texas, say they and other law enforcement agencies have investigated and found no credible evidence to support the claim. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on November…

Was it suspicious that more Democrats in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, requested mail-in ballots than Democrats in Philadelphia County, even though 273,765 fewer registered Democratic voters live in Allegheny County in 2022? No, that's not true: This also happened in 2018 and 2016, according to a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State, who added, "There is no evidence of fraud."…

Is Seattle billionaire Bill Gates now chairman of the Maricopa County, Arizona Board of Supervisors? No, that's not true: A representative for Maricopa County told Lead Stories that a different Bill Gates serves Maricopa County. Gates the billionaire and villain of many conspiracy theories, is a longtime resident of Seattle, where the company he co-founded, Microsoft, is headquartered. The claim…

Did The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) host a contemporary dance performance that some commenters have called "demonic" at one of its conferences? No, that's not true: The performance took place in 2017 at Ghent University, Belgium and had nothing to do with any collective-security meeting. The claim appeared in a November 11, 2022 Instagram post on the tartarian_world account.…

Are delayed election results not normal, a Democratic Party plot that slows counting until days after Election Day? No, that's not true: It's becoming increasingly routine to get U.S. election results after election night because of state laws, some passed by Republican majorities, that allow mail-in ballots with postmarks up to election day. Those ballots, which often arrive after election…

Is it true that germ theory has "NEVER" been proven? No, that's not true: This claim was posted without corroborating materials, nor medical credentials for the person to whom the claim is attributed. The germ theory is a scientifically established explanation for infectious diseases. A medical professional told Lead Stories that "intoxication theory," a supposition that disease is the body's…