Social media flooded with claims of crowdsourced voter fraud ahead of US election

Ahead of the U.S. election, rumors, misleading accusations and outright lies about voting and fraud are flooding the online space in unprecedented numbers.

Hundreds of alleged voting irregularities are being collected and disseminated by individuals as well as independent and Republican-affiliated groups. A handful of posts also came from Democrats.

The whirlwind of claims circulating online has challenged election officials, who must debunk rumors and reassure voters while preparing to administer Tuesday’s Election Day.

In almost every case, the posts supported the Trump campaign’s false claim that the former president won the 2020 election and suggested he could be cheated out of victory again on Nov. 5.

When asked if he would accept the results of the 2024 election, Donald Trump said during the September presidential debate that he would accept it if it was a “fair, legal, good election.”

A majority of Americans (70%) expect him to reject the election results if he loses, according to a CNN/SSRS poll released Monday.

Just this week, Trump himself alleged widespread fraud in a key swing state.

“Pennsylvania is cheating and getting caught on a scale never seen before,” Trump posted on his truth-sharing network. “Report the cheating to the authorities. Law enforcement must act now!

Earlier, officials in three Pennsylvania counties said they were working with local law enforcement to investigate some voter registration applications for potential fraud.

While Trump and allies seized on the announcements, the state’s top elections official, Republican Al Schmidt, urged caution and warned voters to be aware of “half-truths” and disinformation circulating on social media.

“This shows that the safeguards built into our voter registration process are working,” he said.

The BBC has uncovered hundreds of claims of election fraud online, on social networks, message boards and chat groups. Some of these posts have been viewed millions of times.

The posts suggested it was easy for non-citizens to vote, made false claims about voting machines and sow distrust in the vote-counting process.

A video purports to show Haitians recently arrived in Georgia voting.

The BBC found clear signs, including false addresses and stock photos, that the video was fake. U.S. security officials said on Friday It was produced by “Russian influence actors”.

Another person on

It’s also fake, part of a coordinated effort on the fringe message board 4chan. The ballots shown are from Florida, a state that requires identification to vote in person and is about 20 hours’ drive from the Canadian border.

Meanwhile, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, a video was posted on X showing a man throwing down a container containing ballots at a courthouse amid accusations of suspicious activity. It turns out he was a postal worker delivering ballots, but the video has been viewed more than five million times.

Experts worry that an outbreak of misinformation in the run-up to Election Day could undermine trust in the results or lead to threats and violence before and after the election.

This has happened before.

In the hours and days after the 2020 presidential election, as votes were being counted, then-President Trump turned to social media to allege fraud and falsely claim to be the true winner of the election. “Stop the steal” became the slogan of his supporters’ campaign to overturn the election results.

On social media, chat rooms, and during street protests, conspiracy theorists claimed widespread voter fraud that culminated in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Meanwhile, in battleground states like Georgia, election officials — public servants whose job it is to oversee elections — are facing death threats.

While false claims about voting increased after the 2020 vote, organizations that monitor such activity say it began well before Election Day this year.

Wendy Via, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), said some far-right and right-wing activists “are preparing for the election to be stolen in ways that won’t happen in 2020.”

“We cannot overstate the role of conspiracy theories in all of this,” she said.

Those concerns have reached Trump supporters on the ground. At rallies this week in Wisconsin, another key swing state, many said they believed only illegal activity could prevent the Republican nominee from winning.

“I have a lot of confidence in Trump as long as he doesn’t cheat,” said Green Bay’s Brad Miller, who mentioned that he has heard rumors of fraud. “Our only hope is that it won’t be big enough to change the outcome.”

After the 2020 election, the Trump team filed dozens of cases of alleged election fraud in courts in multiple states, but none of them was successful.

Experts say that incidents of individual vote fraud and administrative errors often occur in U.S. presidential elections.

But real events are now being cataloged and shared online to an unprecedented degree, and used alongside fake posts as evidence of widespread cheating.

In Southern California, dozens of ballots were found in storm drains. Although the circumstances of the campaign were unclear, supporters online immediately suspected it was a deliberate fraud.

“They cheat,” said one of the thousands of comments.

As cases have emerged in recent days — including one in Pennsylvania and a Chinese student accused of illegally voting in Michigan — authorities have repeatedly pointed to their investigations as an example of the robustness of election safeguards.

But those who believe in conspiracy theories of widespread fraud see the incidents as evidence of a coordinated Democratic plan to “rig” the election.

“Look at this new form of voter fraud,” read one typical comment in response to the Penn State news. “Democrats have done everything they can to steal another election.”

Experts say the overall impact could be catastrophic for trust in democracy.

“These events are a trap for those trying to undermine confidence in the election results,” said Luis Lozada, CEO of Democracy Works, a nonprofit that distributes voting information.

The flood of claims of election fraud that circulated on social media were aided by a network of groups that crowdsourced the accusations.

Groups like Texas-based True The Vote, founded in 2009, have long been at the forefront of questioning election security.

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

They marshaled a variety of accusations, ranging from minor security lapses to accusations of deliberate vote tampering. The organization also has dedicated personnel monitoring live cameras on ballot boxes in several states. Many local officials have repeatedly outlined the steps they are taking to keep the boxes safe.

“We want to see nothing in these drop boxes,” True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht said during a recent regular online meeting for supporters.

But she also suggested that groups aligned with Democrats were aiming to commit electoral fraud on a massive scale.

She added: “If they wanted to try and do what we saw in 2020, they would be unlikely to succeed because we actually have eyes everywhere.”

The BBC contacted True the Vote for comment.

Many other groups ask supporters to report suspected violations.

Elon Musk’s US political action committee has set up a message board-like community on X filled with rumors and accusations about the vote. With 50,000 members, several posts appear every minute almost around the clock.

Other efforts include the Election Integrity Network, a group founded by a former Trump lawyer that is challenging voter registrations and recruiting poll watchers — partisan observers who go to polling places.

The volume of information on these platforms, coupled with the vagueness of some accusations and often anonymous sources, makes it nearly impossible to verify every allegation.

The groups and the Trump campaign say the efforts are simply to ensure the integrity of the vote. The BBC contacted the Trump campaign for comment.

The effects are unpredictable.

U.S. media such as CBS, a partner of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), reported that the Department of Homeland Security said in a memo on Monday that election conspiracy theories could trigger domestic extremists to take action.

Observers expect the wave of misinformation to continue beyond Election Day. Polls suggest this election will be one of the closest in recent American history. It could take several days to count all the votes and determine the winner.

Luis Losada of Democracy Works said the election was taking place in an “ecosystem of distrust”.

But he said that despite the doubts, “accurate information is coming out”.

“Election officials are working very hard to make sure the election goes ahead just like it did in 2020,” Mr. Losada said. “That doesn’t stop people from getting anecdotes and trying to find loopholes.”

Reported by BBC Verify