Fact check: Evidence undermines Trump campaign claims that dead people vote in Georgia



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On Wednesday, the Trump campaign claimed that the identities of four people who died were used to vote in Georgia.

The campaign tweeted the names of the four deceased former residents of Georgia, claiming that a ballot had been cast for each in the 2020 election. The campaign also issued a press release that day with the same ones. allegations, which were say again later that evening on Fox News by host Tucker Carlson.

The facts first: County officials debunked two of those allegations, telling CNN that the ballots for two of the appointees had not been cast in 2020. Officials are aware of the other two allegations and are reviewing those names.

One of those listed by the Trump campaign was from Nicholson, Georgia. County Election Officer Jennifer Logan told CNN that the claim that this person’s identity was used to vote in last week’s presidential election was “not true.”

Logan said the person “was struck off (electoral) lists in 2003” when she died. Logan noted that someone with the same name but with a slightly different spelling had voted legally in the county this year.

Another of the four listed was from Newton County, Georgia, where the Board of Elections told CNN the individual was struck off the voters list upon his death and did not vote in 2020.

Phil Johnson, the chairman of the board, explained that the deceased’s widow voted using her husband’s name, along with “Mrs.”. as a prefix, causing confusion. “I am very disappointed that anyone is making such an allegation … without verifying,” Johnson said.

Officials are looking at the other two names listed by the Trump campaign.

At a press conference this week, Gabriel Sterling, head of voting system implementation for Georgia’s secretary of state, said the secretary of state’s office is committed to investigating all allegations of electoral fraud.

“Every person that comes in, we’re going to investigate. We’re going to find them,” Sterling told reporters.

He noted that while every election is flawed, confirmed cases of poorly cast votes are unlikely to be enough to tarnish the overall results.

Illegal voting is “a minor part of this thing,” Sterling said.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced on Wednesday that there would be a full recount in the state due to the narrow voting margin between Trump and Biden. CNN did not call a winner for Georgia. Biden currently holds more than 14,000 votes in the state.

CNN’s Hyeyoon (Alyssa) Choi contributed to this report.



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