A claim stating that poll workers in Georgia's Senate runoff election illegally uncovered 50,000 ballots in the early morning hours of January 6 is found to be fake. The hoax claim gained momentum after US President Donald Trump tweeted yet another theory citing election fraud resulting in his humiliating defeat.
As per multiple media outlets, much to the dismay of the US President, Democrats gained control of the US Senate after winning both senate runoffs in Georgia. While Dem Jon Ossoff defeated David Perdue (R), Raphael Warnock won against Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Trump Terms US Election Process Worse Than Third World Countries
Trump's malicious tweet came soon after Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of Georgia's two Senate runoff races. "They just happened to find 50,000 ballots late last night. The USA is embarrassed by fools. Our Election Process is worse than that of third world countries," Trump wrote in the tweet which was soon flagged by the microblogging site.
Debunking the claim made by the US President, Snopes reported that it was similar to his previous rants which stated that 'late-night vote "dumps" helped President elect Joe Biden win prominent states in the elections.
As per the law invoked by Georgia, the poll workers are prohibited to count any ballots until after polls close. In a press release, Georgia Secretary of State said that Election Day for the Georgia Senate runoffs has progressed with few issues and almost nonexistent wait times.
Speaking to PolitiFact, Amber McReynolds, chief executive officer of the National Vote at Home Institute, said that there was no evidence that Georgia election workers "happened to find" any improper votes. "Election officials are following the law and processing ballots. Ballots do not just magically get processed. It takes time and people and equipment to process ballots. Georgia officials are following the law and ensuring that every vote cast is counted," McReynolds told the outlet.
Trump's claims were further exposed by Gabriel Sterling, a Republican who oversees voting systems for the secretary of state's office, who brought out the statistics related to voters turnout. "No Mr. President, there weren't "found" ballots. We have known the number of advanced votes since this weekend. We saw record Election Day turnout. As of Monday 970,000 absentees had been accepted. 31k more were added in yesterday's totals. That leaves 60k that came in yesterday," he tweeted.
Fake Claim From Trump Leaves Social Media Fuming
Soon after Trump tweeted about unearthing 50,000 ballots, he received brickbats from the users on microblogging site. Trump's tweet also gained highlight as it came days after a leaked telephonic conversation revealed the US President begging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to help him find 11,780 votes to help overturn election results.
"Ya ok Donald. I'm sure THEY JUST FOUND 50000 BALLOTS 2 MONTHS AFTER THE ELECTION. YOUR A JOKE. STOP THIS CIRCUS OF YOURS AND MOVE ON OUTTA THE WHITE HOUSE. WORST PRESIDENT EVER DONALD TRUMP. DUMPTHETRUMP HAHHAHA," tweeted a user.
"They 50000 ballots where all signed in favor of biden. Trump tried to steal the election by getting people to hide millions of biden votes, your source just found 50k of them!" replied another.
"Do you panic? You cannot just say that you found 50000 ballots. Specify! People is tired of your stupid bullshit. BULLSHIT!!!" said another user.
