US President Donald Trump tweeted a claim that 221,000 votes were switched from him to Democrat Joe Biden in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, and that others were changed or deleted elsewhere. This is false; Pennsylvania's Department of State said there is "no factual basis" for the claim, while the election technology company blamed in the tweet "categorically denies" allegations of vote switching.
"'REPORT: DOMINION DELETED 2.7 MILLION TRUMP VOTES NATIONWIDE. DATA ANALYSIS FINDS 221,000 PENNSYLVANIA VOTES SWITCHED FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP TO BIDEN. 941,000 TRUMP VOTES DELETED. STATES USING DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS SWITCHED 435,000 VOTES FROM TRUMP TO BIDEN.' @ChanelRion @OANN," Trump tweeted on November 12, 2020.
A screenshot of a tweet taken on November 12, 2020 Trump attributed the claim to the right-wing One America News Network.
Trump has insisted that he is the winner of the 2020 presidential vote -- which major media organizations called for Biden on November 7 -- and has refused to concede, while making unfounded allegations of election fraud.
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Biden's success in Pennsylvania was key, pushing him over the 270 total electoral votes he needed to secure the presidency.
A spokesperson for Pennsylvania's Department of State rejected the claim that 221,000 votes were switched.
"There is no factual basis for this claim. Allegations of fraud and illegal activity have been repeatedly debunked and dismissed by the courts. Those attacks against the core values of Americans are intended to undermine our democracy, and we must reject them," the spokesperson said.
"Pennsylvania is going to fight every single attempt to disenfranchise voters. We will protect this election and the democratic process. Pennsylvania will count every vote, and we will protect the count of every vote."
Election technology company Dominion Voting Systems also pushed back against the allegations in Trump's tweet.
"Dominion categorically denies any claims about any vote switching or alleged software issues with our voting systems," it tweeted.
AFP Fact Check has debunked a series of false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, which are available in English here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by BOOM staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
