Leading up to the 2024 elections, a barrage of misinformation related to election fraud made waves across multiple platforms. Vote tallying, absentee ballots, and voting machines were the hot topics, alongside unfounded accusations of illegal aliens casting votes, election officials indulging in fraudulent practices, and anomalies in early voting.
The one person who emerged unscathed from all these dubious claims was none other than the former President, Donald Trump. Despite struggling with recognition of his defeat in the 2020 election against Joe Biden, Trump and his fervent supporters adapted quickly and were ready to challenge the 2024 election results if needed, especially in his contest against Kamala Harris. But that soon proved unnecessary as Trump’s positive trajectory in the race became evident.
On election night, the tide turned in Trump’s favor, escalating with his decisive victory in Pennsylvania and ultimately leading to his triumphant return as President. With such an outcome, the murmurings about election irregularities from the Republican front largely faded away.
In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, an interesting change took place. The spotlight shifted to other races, with questions being raised about the outcomes of down-ballot contests. It’s noteworthy that these queries stemmed predominantly from conservatives.
Soon, the echo of election fraud allegations begin to resonate from liberal platforms, although these voices carried less strength compared to the thunderous doubts raised by right-leaning individuals after the 2020 election. A puzzling difference that many accounts noted was the contrasting success of Trump and Democratic senatorial candidates in key swing states such as Wisconsin and Michigan.
Notably absent from the ‘stop the steal’ hoopla was Kamala Harris. In a stark contrast to Trump’s reaction to the 2020 election, Harris gracefully accepted her defeat a day after the results were announced. This served as a surprising silence amidst the fury regarding supposed fraudulent vote counting, an issue often highlighted by fact-checkers along with rash accusations concerning mail-in ballots and voting apparatus.
As the early voting commenced in certain states, a new wave of suspicion swept over social media. Doubts about the methods of submission and processing of mail ballots were voiced, and outlandish claims of citizens casting multiple votes in regions like Pennsylvania and Michigan started to gain attention.
Misconceptions about the voting machines in particular counties, such as Shelby County, Tennessee, and Tarrant County, Texas, were also popular. In an intriguing turn of events, a significant fraction of fact-checked claims was centered on Pennsylvania, which made up for about 20% of all fact-checked misgivings.
Post-election, the focus of social media upheavals shifted towards the comparison of voter turnout for the Democrats in 2024 to that of 2020. Some individuals made unfounded assertions based on an initial vote count showing Harris with 20 million fewer votes than the 81 million secured by Biden in 2020, overlooking that the tallying process was still ongoing.
As of November 26, Harris had received more than 74 million votes, with more still being added to the count. For liberal platforms, the decreased vote counts were symptomatic of purported fraud in the 2024 vote count. However, for the conservatives, this lowered vote total was a clear indication of the 2020 election being unjustly wrested from Trump.
Far-fetched notions like satellite technology being leveraged to manipulate votes were also propagated by certain left-leaning accounts. These allegations bore no basis in reality as most voting machines functioned offline, disconnected from the internet.
The phenomenon of Trump securing battleground states while Democrats championed down-ballot victories also stoked suspicions. This occurrence, known as ticket splitting, was quite ordinary even though naysayers painted it as an act of malfeasance.