Don't be scared: Hold fast to facts
This week:??Why we may not learn election results before midnight (again) … Our coverage of Harris’ Ellipse speech, Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally … 5 ways Senate candidates in toss-up races tried to mislead voters, fact-checked … Where the voting misinformation is focused, for now?
On Halloween, saying goodbye to claims that scare us
With 60 million people?voting early in the 2024 election ?so far, it tracks that election misinformation has gotten an early start.
We’ve fact-checked false claims about voting irregularities in many states, but we’re noticing a sustained focus on Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state. Just this week, we fact-checked whether more Amish people are registered to vote than live in Pennsylvania or are eligible to register (not true ), that Lancaster County officials found evidence of 2,600 fraudulent ballots (they are investigating voter registrations ) and that “illegal voters” were cutting the line in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (they weren’t ).?
We expect a lot more where this comes from in the coming days. PolitiFact will work?this weekend and around the clock on Election Day, Nov. 5, to fact-check claims intended to sow doubt about the election process and intimidate voters. Follow our liveblog here . If you have a question about a claim online or about in-person voting, email us at [email protected] .
Because it’s Halloween — and because I’m sensing a little anxiety out there — I’m counting down some tips to bring peace of mind for election season.?
First rule of Electionween: Stay calm.
For all of the chaotic commentary, here’s the truth: Most voters will have a normal experience.?
"Voting in America is safe and working at a vote counting center is also safe," said Seth Bluestein, a Republican city commissioner in Philadelphia who was working in a different city role at the convention center in 2020 as votes were counted. "In Philadelphia and jurisdictions across the county, election officials have taken a lot of lessons learned in 2020, and increased the security of ballot counting facilities.”?
Threats against election workers have increased since 2020, but incidents of political violence are historically rare, Poynter Senior Vice President Kelly McBride wrote this week. ?Election officials in many states have adjusted their security protocols to protect?voters, volunteers and workers.
Second rule: Adjust expectations about receiving Election Day results.
U.S. voters didn’t know the presidential winner before midnight in 1960, 1968, 1976, 2000, 2004 and 2016, historian Michael Beschloss tweeted before the 2020 election. In 2020, the winner didn’t emerge until several days after Election Day.?
This year’s election could follow the trend; it doesn’t mean there’s fraud.
Former President Donald Trump recently told his supporters that the United States should have a system to know results on election night. At an Oct. 19 Pennsylvania rally, Trump called for “quick, fair elections” and said, “We spend all this money on machines, and then they announce, ‘We expect to have the results like seven days after the election.’ If you had paper ballots, you get (results) at 10 p.m.”?
Voting machines are not the reason we don’t know election results on election night. Paper ballots also don’t affect the timing. The vast majority of Americans will cast paper ballots during the 2024 election, as they have for nearly two decades.?
Taking days to count votes doesn’t signal wrongdoing. State laws dictate when mail ballots must be received and when election officials can start processing and tabulating them. In states with significant numbers of mail ballots or close margins, those laws affect how fast votes can be counted and how quickly media outlets can project a winner.
Senior Correspondent Amy Sherman contacted election officials in multiple battleground states to ask about factors that affect the timing of unofficial and official results.?
Third rule: Search Google if you’re curious about a suspicious claim.
When you see a video clip from the polls or outraged warnings about damaged ballots, please don’t take it at face value. Years of experience tell?us there is usually a different explanation from the angry assumptions that go viral.?
Do a Google Search for key terms of what you’re seeing. You might find a fact-check, a news story or some early signs that the claim might not be true.
Take the social media clips of voters waiting in long lines in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The videos spreading on Instagram and X showed a group of a dozen people walking up to a polling center, past an hourslong line of people waiting to vote, and talking with someone who appeared to be an election official. A second video in the post showed a man talking about the group, claiming the people were "all foreigners."?
You can Google “fact check people skipping line pennsylvania” and find our fact-check ?fast. We learned from Allegheny County officials that the voters in the video were there to apply for mail-in ballots. The older and disabled voters were allowed to sit, rather than stand in line, as their applications were processed, which is standard procedure.
If you don’t find a fact-check, ask yourself these questions: Who is spreading the claim? What is their evidence? What do other sources say?
In this case, the original poster on X made a lot of assumptions about what these people were doing, who they supported, and who was helping them.?
Fourth rule: It’s a good time for candy.
I keep a basket of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers and Nestlé Crunch bars within arm’s reach — I mean, for my colleagues to enjoy in the spirit of spooky season.
Fact-checking the final ads
Harris at the Ellipse, Trump at Madison Square Garden
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Ellipse adjoining the White House to draw a sharp contrast with former President Donald Trump, who delivered his "Save America" speech in the same spot before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Harris called him a "petty tyrant" and said she would begin her presidential term not with an enemies list, but a to-do list.
Later, she shifted toward policy, distinguishing parts of her agenda on taxes, abortion and immigration with Trump’s.?
Here are three notable moments, fact-checked.
"He says that one of his highest priorities is to set free the violent extremists who insulted those law enforcement officers on Jan. 6."
Harris accurately said 140 law enforcement officers were injured in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Trump has repeatedly called the defendants charged in the attack "hostages" or "warriors" and promised to pardon the people who stormed the Capitol. More than 1,500 defendants have been charged in the Capitol storming, Justice Department data shows.
Trump would “ban abortion nationwide, restrict access to birth control.”
This is misleading. Since April, Trump has consistently said abortion legislation should be left to the states and said that he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban. Trump said in a May interview that he was "looking at" birth control restrictions, but then wrote on Truth Social, “I have never and will never advocate for imposing restrictions on birth control.”
Trump would pay for his tax plan with "a 20% national sales tax on everything you buy that is imported."
Half True . Trump has discussed raising tariffs across the board by 10% to 20%, so the 20% figure Harris cited is on the upper end of what Trump has said. Tariffs are also not technically part of the tax code, but their effect on consumers would be similar in costing them more money.
Trump’s Sunday speech preceded by racist jokes
Two days earlier at Madison Square Garden in New York, Trump hammered home an anti-immigration theme in his closing-argument pitch to voters. But before he spoke, the event made headlines for a series of racist jokes by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. He called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage" and disparaged Black Americans, Latinos and Jewish people. The Trump campaign said Hinchcliffe did not reflect Trump’s views.
In his speech, Trump said he presided over the securest border in American history (he didn’t ), that the Federal Emergency Management Agency didn’t deliver hurricane relief because the government spent its money bringing immigrants into the country illegally (it didn’t ) and that foreign nations were emptying their prisons and sending convicts to the United States (they’re not ).
Coming Monday: Ask us anything!
Want your election questions answered? PolitiFact’s audience team will participate in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” on the r/Politics subreddit at noon ET/9 a.m. PT on Nov. 4. Join in the pre-Election Day conversation with Josie Hollingsworth and Ellen Hine to ask about PolitiFact’s process.
Closing days of US Senate fact-checks
Our effort to fact-check egregious spin in seven U.S. Senate toss-up races is coming to an end. To mark the occasion, we rounded up the most common themes we’ve checked from almost 60 claims from the candidates and outside spending groups in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Read our story by Contributing Writer Caleb McCullough .
Here’s a sample of recent fact-checks:?
Do you smell smoke??
Here's your Pants on Fire fact-check of the week:?No, Fordyce, Arkansas, voting machines are not flipping votes from Republican to Democrat.
See what else we've rated Pants on Fire this week.?
Have questions or ideas for our coverage? Send me an email at [email protected] .
Thanks for reading, and happy voting!
Katie Sanders
PolitiFact Editor-in-Chief