Quick Take
Viral posts on Facebook falsely claim “we have the results of the senate & house, but not the President,” suggesting it is evidence of fraud. In fact, mail-in ballots for all federal races are still being counted in some states.
Full Story
While some states continued to count mail-in ballots on Nov. 5 — with most attention on the close presidential race — a meme widely shared on Facebook falsely suggested that results were already in for all the Senate and House races in the 2020 election.
The post poses its claim in a question: “Answer me this….how is it that we have the results of the senate & house, but not the President when ALL of them were on same sheet of paper on ballot??”
But some hotly contested congressional races were still underway two days after Election Day, as both political parties awaited the final alignment of the Senate and House.
For example, in Georgia, it’s not true that “we have the results” in the race between Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. With 97% of the vote counted, Perdue has 50% of the vote, but the candidates could be headed for a runoff election, if neither gets a majority of the vote.
In Alaska, the race between Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and independent challenger Al Gross remained too early to call on Nov. 5. More than 114,000 absentee ballots will not be counted until a week after Election Day.
Dozens of House races remain undecided, too, as the New York Times election results page shows.
The winners of most congressional races had been projected. But votes are still being tabulated across the U.S., and remain unofficial until they are certified.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.
This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here for more.
Sources
“2020 General Election Center: Live Election Results.” CBS News. Accessed 5 Nov 2020.
Ackley, Kate, “No winners called yet in pivotal congressional races.” Rollcall.com 4 Nov 2020.
“All eyes on battleground vote counts as anxious nation waits.” NBC News. Accessed 5 Nov 2020.
Bohrer, Becky. “Alaska Senate race too early to call.” Associated Press. 4 Nov 2020.
Mascaro, Lisa. “Election splits Congress, GOP bolstered as Democrats falter.” Associated Press. 5 Nov 2020.
Moore, Elena, “Georgia: Where the Race Stands.” NPR. 4 Nov 2020.
Nadler, Ben and Russ Bynum. “Georgia’s Loeffler in Senate runoff; Perdue’s race uncalled.” AP News. 4 Nov 2020.
“Timelines: Which states could tip U.S. election and when will they report results?” Reuters. 4 Nov 2020.
Wieber, Aubrey. “Alaska’s all-Republican congressional delegation calls for all votes to be counted after Trump prematurely declares victory.” Anchorage Daily News. 4 Nov 2020.
Wu, Nicholas, “Perdue hopes to hold off Ossoff in Georgia Senate race as results show possibility of runoff.” USA Today. 5 Nov 2020.