Crowdsourced voter fraud claims flood social media before US election

Rumours, misleading allegations and outright lies astir voting and fraud are flooding online spaces successful unprecedented numbers successful beforehand of the US election.

Hundreds of incidents involving purported voting irregularities are being collected and dispersed by individuals, arsenic good arsenic some autarkic and Republican-affiliated groups. A tiny fig of posts are besides coming from Democrats.

The whirlwind of claims spreading online poses a situation to predetermination officials who are having to debunk rumours and reassure voters, portion preparing to administer predetermination time connected Tuesday.

In astir each case, the posts enactment the Trump campaign’s mendacious assertion that the erstwhile president won the 2020 predetermination and suggestions that helium volition perchance beryllium cheated retired of triumph again connected 5 November.

When asked whether helium volition judge the 2024 predetermination result, Donald Trump said during the statesmanlike statement successful September that helium would if it was a "fair and ineligible and bully election".

A bulk of Americans - 70% - expect him to cull the effect if helium loses, according to a CNN/SSRS canvass released Monday.

Just this week, Trump himself claimed wide fraud successful a cardinal plaything state.

“Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, astatine ample standard levels seldom seen before,” Trump posted connected his Truth Social network. “REPORT CHEATING TO AUTHORITIES. Law Enforcement indispensable act, NOW!”

The allegation followed officials successful 3 Pennsylvania counties saying they were moving with section instrumentality enforcement to analyse immoderate elector registration applications for imaginable fraud.

While Trump and allies seized connected the announcements, the state's apical predetermination official, Republican Al Schmidt, has urged caution and warned voters to beryllium alert of "half-truths" and disinformation circulating connected societal media.

“This is simply a motion that the built-in safeguards successful our elector registration process are working,” helium said.

The BBC has seen hundreds of allegations of predetermination fraud online, connected societal networks and connected connection boards and successful chat groups. Some of these posts person been viewed millions of times each.

The posts person implied it's casual for non-citizens to vote, made mendacious claims astir voting machines and sowed distrust successful the ballot-counting process.

One video claimed to amusement recently-arrived Haitians voting successful Georgia.

The BBC has recovered wide indications, including mendacious addresses and banal photos, which bespeak the video is simply a fake. On Friday US information officials said it was made by "Russian power actors".

Another idiosyncratic connected X claiming they were Canadian posted a representation of a ballot and said: “Figured I would thrust crossed the borderline and vote."

It, too, is simply a fake, and portion of an effort co-ordinated connected the fringe connection committee 4chan. The ballot shown is from Florida, a authorities that requires recognition to ballot successful idiosyncratic and is astir a 20-hour thrust from the Canadian border.

Meanwhile successful Northhampton County, Pennsylvania, a video was posted connected X showing a antheral dropping disconnected a instrumentality of ballots astatine a courthouse, alleging suspicious activity. It turned retired helium was a postal idiosyncratic delivering mail-in ballots, but the video was seen much than 5 cardinal times.

Experts interest the burst of misinformation conscionable earlier predetermination time could undermine people's spot successful the results - oregon pb to threats and unit successful the lead-up to the predetermination and beyond.

It's happened before.

In the hours and days that followed the 2020 statesmanlike election, portion votes were inactive being counted, then-President Trump turned to societal media to allege fraud and falsely assertion that helium was the existent victor of the election. "Stop the steal" became a slogan of his supporters' question to overturn the results.

• Election polls - is Harris oregon Trump ahead?

On societal media, chatrooms and during thoroughfare protests, conspiracy theorists alleged wide elector fraud, culminating with a riot astatine the US Capitol connected 6 January 2021.

Meanwhile, successful battleground states similar Georgia, predetermination officials - civilian servants whose occupation it is to oversee the predetermination - faced decease threats.

While mendacious claims astir voting ramped up aft the 2020 vote, groups that show this benignant of enactment accidental this twelvemonth it has started good earlier predetermination day.

Wendy Via, laminitis of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), said immoderate far-right and right-wing activists “are preparing themselves for the predetermination to beryllium stolen successful a mode they weren’t successful 2020”.

“We cannot overstate the relation of conspiracy theories successful each of this,” she said.

These doubts person already reached Trump supporters connected the ground. At a rally this week successful Wisconsin, different cardinal plaything state, a fig of radical said they believed lone amerciable enactment would forestall the Republican nominee from winning.

“I consciousness precise assured astir Trump, arsenic agelong arsenic there’s nary cheating,” said Brad Miller of Green Bay, who mentioned that he’d already heard rumours astir fraud. “Our lone anticipation is that it’s not large capable to alteration the result.”

After the 2020 election, dozens of tribunal cases alleging predetermination fraud were lodged by Trump's squad crossed aggregate states, but nary succeeded.

Experts accidental that isolated incidents of ballot fraud and administrative errors ever hap successful US statesmanlike elections, which tally crossed each 50 states and successful 2020 progressive much than 150 cardinal voters.

But existent incidents are present being catalogued and shared online to an unprecedented grade and being used, alongside fake posts, arsenic grounds of wide cheating.

In confederate California, dozens of ballots were recovered successful a tempest drain. Despite the chartless circumstances astir the event, online partisans instantly suspected deliberate fraud.

“They WILL cheat,” says 1 of the thousands of comments posted.

As cases person cropped up successful caller days - including those successful Pennsylvania and a Chinese pupil being charged with illegally voting successful Michigan - authorities person repeatedly pointed to their investigations arsenic examples of the robustness of predetermination safeguards.

But those who judge conspiracy theories astir wide fraud spot these incidents arsenic grounds of a co-ordinated program by Democrats to “rig” the election.

“Look astatine this caller cheat elector fraud,” work 1 emblematic remark responding to the quality from Pennsylvania. “Dems already doing their champion to bargain different election.”

The wide effect tin person a disastrous interaction connected spot successful democracy, experts say.

“These incidents are catnip for those who question to undermine assurance successful the predetermination result,” said Luis Lozada, main enforcement of Democracy Works, a not-for-profit radical that distributes accusation astir voting.

The wide of predetermination fraud claims spreading connected societal media person been aided by a web of groups that crowdsource allegations.

Groups similar Texas-based True The Vote, founded successful 2009, person agelong been connected the forefront of questioning predetermination security.

On an app developed by True the Vote called VoteAlert, supporters station examples of alleged predetermination irregularities.

They person collected a wide scope of claims, from insignificant information oversights to allegations of deliberate ballot tampering. The organisation besides has radical monitoring live-streamed cameras that person been pointed connected ballot driblet boxes successful a fig of states. Many section officials person repeatedly outlined the steps they person taken to marque the boxes secure.

“Our anticipation is we spot precisely thing astatine these driblet boxes,” said True the Vote laminitis Catherine Engelbrecht during 1 of her caller regular online meetings for supporters.

But she besides hinted that Democratic-aligned groups were aiming to perpetrate predetermination fraud connected a immense scale.

“If they privation to effort to propulsion the kinds of things that we saw being pulled successful 2020, they’re highly improbable to get distant with it due to the fact that we have, literally, eyes everywhere,” she added.

The BBC contacted True the Vote for comment.

A fig of different groups are asking supporters to study alleged irregularities.

Elon Musk’s America governmental enactment committee has started a assemblage – akin to a connection committee – connected X, filled with rumours and allegations astir voting. With 50,000 members, respective posts spell up each minute, astir astir the clock.

Other efforts see the Election Integrity Network, a radical founded by a erstwhile Trump lawyer who is challenging elector registrations and recruiting canvass watchers – partisan observers who be polling places.

The measurement of messages connected these platforms – on with the vagueness of immoderate of the claims, with often anonymous sources – makes it astir intolerable to verify each allegation.

The groups, and the Trump campaign, accidental that these efforts are solely meant to guarantee the integrity of the vote. The BBC contacted the Trump run for comment.

The effect of this is unpredictable.

The Department of Homeland Security, successful a memo reported connected by US outlets including the BBC’s spouse CBS, said connected Monday that predetermination conspiracy theories could spark enactment by home extremists.

And observers expect the question of misinformation to proceed good beyond predetermination day. Polls suggest the predetermination volition beryllium among the closest successful modern US history. It whitethorn instrumentality days to number each the votes and find the winner.

Luis Lozada of Democracy Works says the predetermination is being conducted successful an “ecosystem of distrust”.

But contempt the doubts being sown, helium says, “accurate accusation is getting retired there".

“Election officials enactment precise hard to guarantee that elections are tally properly, arsenic they were successful 2020,” Mr Lozada said. “That’s not going to halt folks from taking anecdotes, and trying to punch holes.”

With reporting by BBC Verify