ARIZONA, USA — President Donald Trump retweeted a false claim Tuesday night alleging that thousands of “fake Biden” ballots were discovered, narrowing President-elect Joe Biden’s lead in Arizona.
To be abundantly clear, this is not true; here’s why.
THE CLAIM:
A tweet from user Lori Hendry went viral saying that 6,000 Biden votes in Arizona were discovered to be fake and, when taken out, dropped the president-elect's lead in the state.
THE ANSWER:
A data error posted in the unofficial results from one of Arizona's counties said that Biden's lead dropped from 10,377 to 4,202. The error has since been corrected and Biden's lead is back to over 10,000 votes.
WHAT WE FOUND:
That “report” comes from another tweet made earlier in the day by Arizona data analyst Garrett Archer who found that the unofficial results posted on the Arizona Secretary of State website slimmed Biden's lead to 4,202 votes when it was over 10,000 the day before.
The discrepancy came from a Greenlee County counting error which temporarily showed the county reporting 22,110 votes instead of 3,723.
The entire population of Greenlee County, Arizona’s least populous, is estimated to be about 8,437 people, making the larger figure impossible.
“Stuff like this happens from time to time,” Archer explained. “No, the results didn't change, no the canvass is not wrong.”
“This is why the word unofficial is in marquis letters on all state election reporting sites.”
The issue has since been corrected.
The discrepancy led to erroneous claims that 6,000 votes for Biden were invalidated.
As of Tuesday night, the state website shows Biden’s lead back to over 10,000; the same count when Trump was mathematically eliminated and Biden was declared to be the victor by NBC News.
No instances of voter fraud leading to thousands of ballots being rejected have been found.
Secretary of State Katie Hobbs stands by the election results in the state even as she receives death threats.
RELATED: VIDEO: Group chants 'We are watching you' outside Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs' home
Earlier this month, the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors rebuffed claims of voter fraud in the presidential election, arguing “the evidence overwhelmingly shows” the results were accurate.
Clint Hickman, a Republican, concluded that there is no evidence of fraud, misconduct or equipment malfunction even with over 2 million ballots tallied in Arizona's most populated county.
Lawsuits alleging voter fraud were also thrown out in court after no credible evidence was found.
Other dubious fraud claims surrounding the use of Sharpies on Arizona ballots have since been roundly rejected.
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