Mail-in ballots have become a popular way to vote in the U.S. But the unfounded claim persists that mail ballots lead to rampant fraud and, if counted after Election Day, they are suspect. By law, many states don’t start counting mail ballots until after polls close, and some continue to accept them for days after Election Day if they are postmarked by that date.
Voters are about to get a respite from the political attack-ad onslaught: Election Day is tomorrow. That means no more messages from Democrats attacking Republicans over abortion rights or the future of Medicare; no more Republicans blaming Democrats for inflation or crime. At least for a little while.
Pennsylvania uses a “not verified” code on mail-in ballot applications if a voter’s identity couldn’t be immediately verified; voters have six days after an election to submit a valid ID. But an Instagram post and some Republican leaders — including former President Donald Trump — falsely claim the state has “sent out 249,000 ballots to unverified voters” and misleadingly suggest it will result in widespread fraud.
U.S. Senate candidate Don Buldoc, a Republican, resurrected a zombie claim that has been repeatedly debunked about busloads of people coming from out of state to vote illegally in New Hampshire.
A 62-year-old bodybuilder who had heart disease died after contracting COVID-19. But vaccine opponents are falsely suggesting that he died from the COVID-19 vaccine. He didn’t. He’d been vaccinated 18 months before his death.
Adam Laxalt, the Republican candidate for Senate in Nevada, opposes abortion and has called the overturning of Roe v. Wade a “historic victory.” But he has not voiced support for criminalizing abortion for women, as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee suggests in a TV ad that shows a woman being arrested for having an abortion.
Many Republicans have condemned or spoken out against the violent assault on Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband, who was knocked unconscious by an intruder at the couple’s San Francisco home the morning of Oct. 28.
A deleted tweet from the White House and remarks by President Joe Biden could leave the false impression that Biden’s policies have something to do with an increase in Social Security payments. But the increase is set by law and is linked to inflation.
Radio and TV ads from a group headed by a former senior adviser to Donald Trump accuse President Joe Biden and the left of “racism against white people” and “anti-white bigotry.” But in context, some of the claims about the alleged “anti-white” policies and statements don’t hold up.
A man armed with a hammer broke into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fractured the skull of her husband, Paul. Some conservative figures — including Donald Trump Jr. — have shared social media posts claiming with no evidence and contrary to police reports that the man was a prostitute known to Paul Pelosi. He wasn’t.