Arizona Election

Were a quarter of a million illegal votes found in the Arizona audit? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, April 27, 2021, no results from the audit commissioned by Republicans in the state Senate have been released. An exact release date is not known. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on April 26,…

Is the audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, confirming the rumor that a "special watermark is on the real ballots"? No, there's no evidence that's true: Maricopa County ballots do not have watermarks, according to a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Elections Department. Claims of such watermarks are related to a previously debunked conspiracy theory that some entity -- perhaps the…

Did Dominion have 70 attorneys in Arizona in April of 2021, trying to stop the audit of ballots from the 2020 election? No, that's not true: A post making the claim offered no sourcing to support it, and a spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems said the company had no such team. "Dominion does not have a team of attorneys in…

Does Mike Lindell's "Absolute Interference" video, his third that purports to prove 2020 election fraud, contain only proven statements? No, that's not true: It contradicts itself and recycles claims that have been debunked before, relying on discredited and anonymous guests who make unsubstantiated and disproven allegations. The video's orienting claim is that foreign and domestic actors hacked the election through…

Were ballots from the 2020 election found shredded and trashed in Maricopa County, Arizona? No, that's not true: The ballots cast in that election are safely sealed and stored in a vault, according to a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Elections Department. She said that "Maricopa County has not, and would never destroy voted ballots until legally authorized to do…

By Dana Ford and Alexis Tereszcuk Does Mike Lindell's "Absolute Proof" video, which promises to expose election fraud, contain only factual and proven statements about the 2020 election? No, that's not true: The nearly two-hour video recycles familiar conspiracy theories, touching on claims that have been widely and repeatedly debunked. Among the disproven allegations are that dead people voted, that…

Did the Arizona Senate President release evidence of voter fraud one hour after Joe Biden was sworn in as president? No, that's not true: Arizona Senate President Karen Fann released a statement about an ongoing legal battle with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, but there was no mention in the statement about voter fraud. "There is no evidence of…

Did a pro-Trump "operative" uncover thousands of counterfeit November 2020 Fulton County ballots stored in an Atlanta warehouse? No, that's not true: Photos of boxes of ballots showed emergency paper ballots stored in the warehouse as back-ups in the event voting machines failed on election day. Election rules require each county to hold emergency ballots equal to at least 10%…

Does an advertising video titled "The Plot To Steal America" contain hard evidence of election fraud? No, that's not true: the 18-minute pitch contains allegations based on video clips purporting to show "evidence" but several of these clips do not actually show what is being claimed. The announcer repeats 11 already-debunked claims in the opening five minutes, then tells viewers…

Did the U.S. Supreme Court signal it would reconsider the Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election, if refiled "with the correct terms"? No, that's not true: Election law experts consulted by Lead Stories agreed that technical differences in filing would not make any difference in the outcome of the case. They consider it closed. As…