Welcome back to Misinformation Roundup, your bulletin of viral rumors that never happened! Through Misinformation Roundup, Athena Strategies aims to debunk falsehoods and empower individuals with accurate information, fostering a healthier democracy.
Here are a few pieces of mis and disinformation that circulated on social media recently, along with clear explanations of why they’re false.
- False claims continue to circulate about non-citizen voting, which have been repeatedly debunked by countless election officials, media outlets, and other election experts. In all states, non-citizens are prohibited from voting in federal elections, period. Nonetheless, some recent social media users are regurgitating old videos and phony claims, such as false allegations from Arizona in 2020. These have been repeatedly debunked, including recently by AFP Fact Check. Similarly, it is false that non-citizens living in a particular apartment complex in Georgia voted illegally. Lead Stories debunked these false allegations and the GA Secretary of State also confirmed there was no record supporting these claims.
- Disinformation about the Democratic National Convention included more debunked false claims about crowd sizes than one could count, as well as disproven fabricated claims about lack of flags, and false allegations claiming wrongly that California and Minnesota refused to give their Delegate votes to Harris and Walz. As debunked by many outlets including Lead Stories, Reuters Fact Check and USA Today, the two states initially passed during their alphabetical turn in the roll call so they could close out the ceremonial voting with their home-state votes for Harris and Walz, as is a frequent tradition.
- Contrary to false claims, Minnesota mail-in ballot envelopes do not disclose the voter’s political party affiliation, Check Your Fact, USA Today and Lead Stories reported. The letter “R” marked on the envelope stands for “Registered” Absentee voter, not “Republican.” In fact, voters do not declare a party when they register to vote in Minnesota, and Minnesota has an “open primary” which allows voters to select whichever party’s primary they wish to participate in when they vote.
Misinformation is a critical threat to our democracy, and Athena Strategies is seeking your help! We encourage our readers to actively scrutinize the information you encounter. Should you come across a piece of content that you suspect to be misinformation, please reach out to us.
With your help, we can stop the spread of false information and strengthen trust in our democratic process. Stay tuned for the next edition of Misinformation Roundup, where we’ll continue to shed light on falsehoods impacting our democracy and world.