False claim that Maricopa County lost 291,390 votes

GrassRoots50

Breaking News Stories

False claim that Maricopa County lost 291,390 votes

January 15, 2023

Claim: Maricopa County lost 291,930 votes on Election Day

Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, announced on November 28 that the county’s 2022 Midterm Election ResultsHowever, some social media users have argued that the county is under-represented.

“Impossible: Maricopa County lost 291,930 votes in Election Day polls?” Nov. 28 Facebook post (direct link, archived link).

This claim was dated 28 November Gateway Critic Articleincorrectly reported voting information provided by Maricopa County.

The article erroneously compared Election Day direct votes to Election Day total votes, claiming that the difference in numbers indicated that votes were somehow lost.

“Somewhere along the way, Maricopa County lost 291,930 votes based on its own reporting,” reads the article.

Follow us on facebook! Like our page and stay up to date on the latest rants all day long

According to social media insight tool CrowdTangle, the Gateway Pundit article was shared more than 1,000 times on Facebook.

But the allegations of a lack of votes are unfounded.

Maricopa County officials told USA TODAY that the post conflated Election Day direct votes with the total Election Day votes reported by the county, which exceeded 540,000.

It includes nearly 250,000 election day votes, plus more than 290,000 votes that were dumped into polling stations on November 8. Also, the small number of provisional ballots cast on Election Day were counted separately. .

USA TODAY reached out to social media users who shared the allegations for comment. Gateway Pundit said he updated the article on Nov. 30 to record the total number of absentee ballots, but the text of the article still claims that votes were lost.

All ballots were held in Maricopa County

The claim that Maricopa County lost 291,390 votes on Election Day is false. Megan Gilbertson The director of communications for the Maricopa County Election Commission told USA TODAY in an email.

November 28th, Maricopa County reports More than 540,000 voters voted on Election Day, 248,070 voters Vote in person on Election Day at any of the county’s 223 polling places. Most of the remaining ballots (approximately 290,000 votes) were placed in drop-boxes at vote centers on Election Day. About 2,900 provisional ballots were cast on Election Day, according to Gilbertson.

Fact check: Temporary Voting Suspension Caused by Printing Glitch in Arizona

Jack Sellers, Republican member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said: Statement of November 28 No matter how a person voted after the election results were proven, “all legal votes were counted”.

Steve Gallardo, who is also a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said: said in the same statement The election was “safe, secure and accurate.”

USA TODAY previously debunked claims about voting in Maricopa County. This included the unsubstantiated allegation that printing glitches indicated that “they were also cheating” and the unsubstantiated allegation that poll observers witnessed voter fraud. I was.

political fact, of Associated Press When AFP fact check He also denied the allegations.

Our Rating: No

Based on our research, we assess that the claim that Maricopa County lost 291,930 votes on Election Day is false. There were no missing votes in Maricopa County. The claim incorrectly compares in-person votes on Election Day with total votes on Election Day, concluding that the difference in numbers indicates lost votes. However, Election Day voters in Maricopa County could vote in person or by dropping off their ballots in a secure box at the polling place. The county’s reported Election Day total vote count was over 540,000, including in-person ballots and secure-box ballots. It also includes a small number of provisional votes cast on November 8th.