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Trump tweeted a video linked to long-debunked allegations of voter fraud in California, asking: 'Is this what our country has come to?'

Nov 12, 2020, 22:57 IST
Business Insider
Frederic J Brown/AFP via Getty Images, Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
  • President Donald Trump tweeted a video Wednesday night about mail-in ballots. The video had previously been linked to false claims of election fraud.
  • The video, originally posted on November 5, shows two election workers collecting mail-in ballots from a drop box in LA County on November 4, the day after Election Day.
  • After the original video was posted, some Twitter users claimed these ballots were invalid. This was debunked by officials, who said the votes had all been deposited on November 3.
  • Trump appeared to suggest wrongdoing in his tweet, asking: "Is this what our country has come to?" Twitter placed a label on the tweet that links to a series of articles debunking mail-voting myths.
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Throughout the election period, President Donald Trump has used his social media accounts to make baseless claims of voter fraud.

On Wednesday night, he tweeted a video connected to claims that invalid mail-in ballots were being counted.

The video, first posted last November 5, shows two election workers collecting mail-in ballots from a drop box in LA County on November 4, the day after Election Day.

After the original video was posted, some Twitter users claimed these ballots were invalid because they were collected after Election Day, and shouldn't have been counted, per Reuters.

This was debunked by Los Angeles County officials on November 6. They told Reuters that while the ballots were collected on November 4, they were deposited by voters on or before November 3, Election Day, which makes them valid.

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Trump's latest tweet appeared to suggest wrongdoing: He tweeted the video with the words: "Is this what our country has come to?"

An official told Reuters the drop box was locked at 8 p.m. on Election Day, meaning that no ballots could have been posted afterwards.

California state legislation states: "Vote-by-mail ballots that are personally delivered to a ballot drop-off location must be delivered no later than the close of polls at 8:00 p.m. on Election Day."

The woman in the video asked why the votes hadn't been counted when news outlets had already called California for Joe Biden late on the night of November 3.

Not all votes have to be counted for the media to make election calls: Outlets projected the Democratic candidate as the winner for the state after it became apparent it was near-impossible for Trump to win the state, based on the remaining number of votes to be counted.

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Read more: Insiders at Fox News wonder what's next as they try to acknowledge Biden's victory without turning away Trump voters

Twitter labeled Trump's latest tweet with an information box, reading "Learn how voting by mail is safe and secure." Clicking through takes users to a series of articles debunking mail-voting myths.

Twitter has gone further on other tweets by Trump, labelling several of his tweets as "disputed" and "potentially misleading."

Twitter has also stopped users from liking or retweeting some Trump's Tweets. On November 5, Trump called the platform "out of control" after it labelled a series of late-night tweets.

Grace Dean / Twitter

When asked why Trump's latest tweet hadn't been given a stronger label, a Twitter spokesperson told Business Insider the label was issued in line with its Civic Integrity Policy.

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The video in itself does not make allegations of voter fraud.

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