Fluctuating vote count in Fox News coverage of the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff is evidence of voter fraud.
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Fluctuating vote count on Fox News resulted from human error, not fraud in the Georgia runoff
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Because of human error, The Associated Press briefly provided incorrect election results to news outlets in the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff. It’s not evidence of election fraud.
A TikTok video circulating on various social media platforms points to a fluctuating vote count in a Fox News broadcast on the night of the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff as evidence of election fraud, but that’s wrong.
"Hershel Walker drops from 1,417,926 to 1,407,578 on live T.V. at the same time Warnock increases," reads text above the video, misspelling Republican candidate Herschel Walker’s first name.
An arrow points to a chyron at the bottom of the screen showing Walker with 1,407,578 votes, or 49.7%. Then it changes to 1,417,926 votes, or 49.8%. Then it changes back to 1,407,578 and 49.7%.
One Instagram post sharing the clip said: "They did it again. Does anyone really believe we have election integrity."
"When are we the people going to do something about this cheating?" someone commented on another post.
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These posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The post is wrong that Warnock’s vote count increases as Walker’s drops. In the clip, it at first looks as if Warnock has 1,422,652 votes, or 50.3%. Then it changes to 1,429,004, or 50.2%, and then back to 1,422,652 votes and 50.3%.
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Lauren Easton, a spokesperson for the AP, told us "human error" caused the organization to "briefly provide incorrect, overstated numbers for both candidates for less than a minute Tuesday night."
The mistake was quickly corrected, but it became fodder for false allegations of election fraud. We previously fact-checked (and debunked) a similar claim that a fluctuating vote count on an NPR-affiliate’s website is evidence of fraud. The news outlet also received its election results from The Associated Press. It was human error then, and it’s human error now.
Unofficial election results on the Georgia secretary of state’s website show Warnock won the election with 1,816,096 votes, or 51.37%.
We rate these posts False.
Our Sources
Instagram post, Dec. 7, 2022
Instagram post, Dec. 7, 2022
Georgia Secretary of State, General Election Runoff, last updated Dec. 7, 2022
PolitiFact, Human error caused brief misreporting of Georgia U.S. Senate runoff results, Dec. 9, 2022
Email interview with Lauren Easton, corporate communications vice president, The Associated Press, Dec. 9, 2022
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Fluctuating vote count on Fox News resulted from human error, not fraud in the Georgia runoff
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