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Instagram users took a photo from the live video recording of Maricopa County, Arizona’s voter counting site and concluded that it was a sign of fraud.
“This is a video from Maricopa County a few minutes ago. A bunch of bags suddenly arrived at the polls … ” said an Instagram post November 15.
The photo shows the Maricopa counter in Phoenix, with a luggage rack full of black bags.
According to the caption, “Nothing to see here, only Democrats with the help of the media and the GOP establishment stealing another election.” The caption went on to say that “the reason the Republican establishment isn’t saying anything” about “these stolen elections” is because they want to “discredit” former President Donald Trump and sabotage the campaign. MAGA.
Hashtags on the post include #ElectionFraud and #DemocratsCheatOutinTheOpen.
The post was marked as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false and misleading information on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Maricopa County Elections Department spokeswoman Megan Gilbertson told us it’s common for video surveillance and video surveillance to happen long after an election.
Black canvas bags of the type used to take ballots and results reports from the polls to the central counting area after the polls close on Election Day, according to Gilbertson.
“The bags are sealed with a visible seal for security, signed on a chain of custody form, and returned to the Elections Office by two election workers from different parties,” Gilberton said. “When black canvas bags are opened, it’s done under 24/7 live cameras and political party monitors are there.”
The process is seen by members of the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties, Gilbertson said. The image of the Instagram post shows the observers and voting leaders.
Black canvas bags are a common presence in the polling station as officials tally the number of physical votes cast and the number of voters who attended the polls.
“It’s basically an audit for us,” Gilbertson said. “We’ll do it in every election eventually.”
Maricopa tweeted a similar image of voting banks and write, “This procedure is carried out at each election to ensure that the legal votes are counted.”
Alex Gulotta, director of the voting rights group of the All Elections Association, said the figure reflects standard procedures outlined in the state’s election management manual. On page 194, the manual explains the procedure for taking the ballots to a counting station.
Sarah Brannon, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s voting rights campaign, also confirmed that the image shows a tactic used by Maricopa officials.
“The council has shown that these pictures are about that daily routine,” Brannon said. “We have no reason to question that statement and no reason to believe that these pictures raise any questions about the integrity of the election in Maricopa County.”
Our decision
An Instagram post said the bags arriving at the Maricopa County voter counting site were a sign of “Democrats with the help of the media and the GOP establishment stealing another election.”
Banks were present at the Maricopa polling place, but they are not indicative of any criminal or illegal activity and are in compliance with the state’s election manual. The sealed bags from the ballots are taken to the counting area by the workers of the different political parties. When the bags were opened, it was done under camera surveillance with political party observers present.
Banks are located at the polling station so officials can tally the number of votes cast with the number of voters who participated in the polls.
We settle this claim Pants on Fire!
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