Election deniers have spent the past four years focused on false claims that 2020 was rigged. This year, it raised similar alarms about fraud — only for those claims to evaporate as returns came in.
Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory is fueling claims of fraud on both sides of the political divide. His right-wing supporters claim the outcome vindicates their debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. To a smaller degree, those on the left are circulating their own baseless claims casting doubt on this year’s results.
The election denial movement Trump inspired has spent the past four years building an infrastructure and community around false claims that 2020 was rigged. This year, it invested heavily in raising similar alarms that voting would again be compromised — only for those claims to evaporate as returns came in.
The narrative twist emerging in the wake of Election Day shows how the movement is continuing to sow doubt about the voting process even after their preferred candidate won. The new claims center on comparing popular vote totals in 2020 and 2024: Four years ago, Joe Biden received around 81 million votes; as of Friday afternoon Harris’s total stood at 69 million, according to the Associated Press.
Election deniers have framed the difference as « missing » Democratic ballots that validate their suspicions about cheating in 2020. Some recirculated disproven theories about late-night ballot « dumps » that resulted in states that had early leads for Trump in 2020 shift to Biden as more votes were counted.
There are a couple straightforward reasons for the gap between Harris’s and Biden’s totals. First of all, votes are still being tallied, including in the most populous state, California.
« Most people just don’t really understand how election administration and the tabulation of election results actually works in this country », said Kathy Boockvar, who oversaw elections in 2020 in Pennsylvania as its secretary of the commonwealth. « And that of course leads, unfortunately, to susceptibility to conspiracy theories and false information. »
The process of certifying votes varies from state to state. In many cases it takes weeks to complete, as officials process overseas and military ballots, review provisional ballots, and conduct audits.
Jennifer Morrell, a former elections official who now runs the advisory firm the Elections Group, says when considering claims about « missing » ballots, it’s important « to recognize that there are these checks and balances and audits and tests that happen throughout the election. »
Numerous investigations and audits, often led by Republicans, were conducted after the 2020 election and no evidence of widespread fraud was discovered.
