Fake News: Black People In Birmingham NOT Caught Voting Multiple Times With Fake IDs

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk

An article (archived here) from satire website Reagan Was Right titled "BREAKING: Black People In Birmingham Caught Voting Multiple Times With Fake IDs" was promptly stolen by a 'real' fake news site named Conservative Stamp (which was registered only a few weeks ago). The article opened:

The FEC has announced that it may have to recommend invalidating more than 60K votes from the Birmingham area to the Alabama Secretary of State. according to police logs, poll watchers and a watchdog group from the Heritage Foundation, dozens of people were caught voting multiple times with fake IDs and fake voter registrations.

The problem came to light as one poll watcher witnessed the same two men, who were obviously twins, return to the polls wearing different hats to vote at least four times. When confronted, the two men pushed their way through the crowd and ran.

It also contained a racist quote falsely attributed to a Breitbart news interview with a poll worker (but with the actual link going to a picture of donkey excrement on some grass):

"We were a little bit suspicious of some of the people coming in, but they had what looked like valid IDs. We checked their pictures and signatures and they seemed to match, but let's be honest...it can be hard to tell them apart."

The fake link was removed from the version at Conservative Stamp.

fakeids.jpg

Reagan Was Right carries a satire disclaimer at the bottom of the page which reads:

sat·ire ~ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
If you disagree with the definition of satire or have decided it is synonymous with "comedy," you should really just move along.

Conservative Stamp had no such disclaimer besides a very general warning on their about page:

All the information on this website is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. ConservativeStamp does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this website (ConservativeStamp), is strictly at your own risk. ConservativeStamp will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website.

The owner and main writer of Reagan Was Right is self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has made it his full time job to troll gullible conservatives and Trump supporters into liking and sharing his articles. He runs several other websites such as asamericanasapplepie.org, ourlandofthefree.com and freedumjunkshun.com. Sometimes he is also known under his nickname "Busta Troll". He has at least one accomplice who writes under the pen names "Freedom", "Captain Jellypants", "Butch Mannington" or "Captain Buck Atlantis".

Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who often omit the satire disclaimer and any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past but new ones keep cropping up.

If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news.

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  Maarten Schenk

Maarten Schenk is the co-founder and COO/CTO of Lead Stories and an expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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