鈥淭his is the California model spreading across the country. When you need to flip things blue there鈥檚 always some mysterious mail-in ballots lying around that鈥檒l do the trick. Shameful!鈥�
-- Tomi Lahren in a on Nov. 4, 2020
A provocative but unfounded post from conservative commentator Tomi Lahren has gone viral on Facebook suggesting key states in the presidential race are starting to 鈥渇lip blue鈥� due to a fraudulent mail-in voting system such as the one used in California.
The post was flagged as part of Facebook鈥檚 effort to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about PolitiFact California鈥檚 with Facebook.) It received more than 700,000 views and 25,000 likes on the platform by early Wednesday afternoon.
Facebook added a warning label at the bottom of the post citing the trustworthiness of voting by mail.
With the nation鈥檚 focus on the still-undetermined presidential race, we set out to fact check Lahren鈥檚 claim.
A 鈥楩alse And Unsupported Statement鈥�
While early election night results in several battleground states favored President Donald Trump, continued counting and reporting on Wednesday of legally voted mail-in ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan have turned the still-preliminary results in favor of Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Several battleground states were to tally mail-in votes before Election Day. That meant many votes from Democrats, , were reported after figures from Tuesday鈥檚 in-person voting, which Republicans relied on in greater numbers.
Officials in those states have not cited evidence that unexplained mail-in ballots are turning states 鈥渂lue.鈥�
鈥淭here is no support for the claim that ballots 鈥榣ying around鈥� are mysteriously included in the count. This is a false and unsupported statement,鈥� Rick Hasen, a UC Irvine law professor and elections expert, wrote in an email, referring to both the contested states and California.
鈥淒espite all of the complaints about third party collection of ballots (sometimes referred to pejoratively as 鈥榖allot harvesting鈥�) there has been no evidence of any widespread fraud with mail in ballots in California elections,鈥� he added.
Republicans in 2018 criticized that allows anyone, even campaign workers, to collect and return mail-in ballots, which they dubbed 鈥渂allot harvesting.鈥�
Later-arriving mail-in ballots, some collected under this new law, during that year鈥檚 midterm election after Republicans had more votes counted on Election Day.
Asked about Lahren鈥檚 post, Sam Mahood, a spokesperson for the California Secretary of State鈥檚 Office, said it 鈥渙ffers no evidence.鈥�
鈥淰oting-by-mail has been popular in red, blue, and purple states for years. It鈥檚 a secure and transparent process. Vote counting is open to the public and campaigns to view,鈥� Mahood wrote.
He added there鈥檚 been no indication of any large-scale fraud tied to mail-in voting during the current election.
For longtime California voters, there鈥檚 nothing 鈥渕ysterious鈥� about mail-in ballots. Voters of all political stripes have used them safely and securely for decades to help both Democrats and Republicans win.
The process 鈥� traditionally called absentee voting and now more commonly called mail-in voting or vote-by-mail 鈥� has been allowed for anyone who鈥檚 registered, and for any reason, since 1979, according to the California Voter Foundation. A record 72% of votes cast in the California primary were by mail, a figure that鈥檚 expected to be surpassed once all the state鈥檚 general election ballots are counted in the weeks ahead.
Mail-in ballots, in fact, were in northern Los Angeles County, undercutting the by President Donald Trump that they favor Democrats and lead to corruption.
Election experts, along with state and county election officials and numerous studies have all rejected claims that mail-in ballots lead to widespread fraud. The studies include a 5-year investigation by the George W. Bush administration that of any organized effort to skew federal elections.
There have been cases of voters trying to cheat using mail-in ballots, but experts say it鈥檚 not systemic. When it happens, it gets caught.
"Election fraud of all sorts is rare. There is a slightly less rare instance of voter fraud by absentee balloting," Charles Stewart, co-director of the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, which analyzes election systems, told us in June. "There are greater temptations and opportunities. Nonetheless, they are rare."
Stewart pointed to one exception: A "that ended up being full of mail ballot fraud."
More recently, Justin Levitt, a professor at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, United States elections from 2000 to 2014. He found just 31 credible incidents of voter fraud of any kind over that period, during which more than a billion votes were cast.
Our Ruling
A popular Facebook post from commentator Tomi Lahren said 鈥渕ysterious mail-in ballots lying around鈥� helped flip key states in the race for the White House for Democrat Joe Biden. It also suggested California鈥檚 mail-in voting system is fraudulent.
There鈥檚 no evidence that election officials discovered new or illegal ballots 鈥渓ying around鈥� after Election Day. Several battleground states where early results from Tuesday鈥檚 in-person vote favored President Trump continued counting legally-voted mail-in ballots Tuesday night and Wednesday. Those ballots can take longer to count and some states were prohibited from starting to tally them until Tuesday.
Additionally, Democratic voters , which explains why the early results have shifted.
Election experts and county election officials along with numerous studies have rejected the idea that mail-in ballots in California or any other state lead to widespread fraud.
Lahren鈥檚 post is making waves on social media. But it鈥檚 not backed up by the facts.
We rated it False.
Source List
Tomi Lahren, Facebook , Nov. 4, 2020
Rick Hasen, UC Irvine law professor and elections expert, email interview Nov. 4, 2020
Sam Mahood, spokesperson, California Secretary of State鈥檚 Office, email interview, Nov. 4, 2020
PolitiFact California, , June 2, 2020
NPR, , Oct. 31, 2020
The New York Times, , Sept. 30, 2020
USA Today, , Aug. 18, 2020
San Francisco Chronicle, , Nov. 30, 2018
CNN, , May 14, 2020
NPR, , Aug. 28, 2020
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