Zombie Election Fraud Claims Won't Die

Sen. Marco Rubio, who is reportedly under consideration as former President Donald Trump’s possible running mate, got into a heated exchange May 19 with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker about whom or what is to blame for the public's declining confidence in U.S. elections. 

Welker played a clip of the Florida Republican on Jan. 6, 2021, when he voted to certify President Joe Biden's victory, saying, “Democracy is held together by people’s confidence in the election and their willingness to abide by its results.”

“So by your own definition, are Donald Trump’s claims undermining Americans’ confidence in democracy?” Welker asked, referring to Trump’s repeated false claims that Democrats stole the 2020 election.

In response, Rubio suggested another culprit, saying ballot fraud in Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona in 2020 -- three states lost by Trump -- "undermines people’s confidence in the election."

But, as FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely writes, Rubio provided no evidence and his examples were either unsubstantiated or misleading.

In Georgia, for example, Rubio claimed that "liberal groups were paying people $10 per vote" -- a claim made by a group called True the Vote in a November 2021 complaint to Georgia officials. True the Vote based its claim on one undisclosed source, but refused to cooperate with state investigators, citing confidentiality agreements.

After the state sued to compel the group to produce, among other things, "witness interviews" and "contact information," the group unsuccessfully tried to withdraw its complaint. Ultimately, it acknowledged to the court that it did not have the information, including the confidentiality agreements, in its possession. 

Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, told Eugene that the state investigation turned up "zero evidence" of ballot harvesting.

"Like all the lies about Georgia’s 2020 election, True The Vote’s fabricated claims of ballot harvesting have been repeatedly debunked," Hassinger said, "and anyone who repeats them … is either a willful dunce or a co-conspirator."

Read the full story, "Rubio Spreads Debunked 2020 Election Fraud Claims."

Reader: Are illegal aliens living in this country being paid $2,200 a month and living for free on our government? 

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: No. This claim is false.

The payment refers to the amount of temporary cash assistance provided to refugees who are living in the U.S. legally -- not to people who illegally entered the United States.

FactCheck.org Staff Writer Saranac Hale Spencer wrote about this in October, when she found that conservative politicians and commentators conflated aid given to authorized refugees with the limited assistance available to immigrants who entered the country illegally. 

As Sara wrote:

U.S. law defines a refugee, in part, as someone who is “unable or unwilling” to return to their country “because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

The number of refugees who are accepted each year is capped by the president under the Refugee Act of 1980 — for fiscal year 2023, the cap is set at 125,000 — so the number of people eligible for benefits is limited. As of the end of August, with one month of the fiscal year left, the U.S. had admitted a total of 51,231 refugees, according to State Department data.

Those benefits include a one-time payment from the Department of State to help refugees resettle, which is now $2,375 per refugee. Only $1,275 is available to be given directly to refugees, though, to cover things such as food, clothing and rent. The rest goes to the resettlement agency, which provides services and case management for refugees during their first three months in the U.S.

Sara also writes that this claim about cash payments to immigrants without a legal status was imported from Canada, circa in 2004, and has been periodically recycled in the U.S. As Sara wrote, “Misinformation is often recycled in this way and this claim, in particular, is a perfect example.”

You can read her story -- "Conservative Politicians, Commentators Recirculate Old Falsehood on Aid for Immigrants" -- to see how she did a bit of sleuthing to uncover how this recycled misinformation has surfaced again.

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "Misleading Claims on Well-Known Rare Risk of AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine": A rare risk of dangerous blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was identified and reported in early 2021. This month, the company announced it was pulling the vaccine off the market globally, citing a decline in demand. Social media posts misleadingly linked the decision to the company having “admitted” the rare side effect “for the first time” in court documents and used it to impugn all vaccines.
• "Trump’s Wrong: Gun Owners More Likely to Vote": In a speech at a National Rifle Association convention, former President Donald Trump deceptively stoked fears that if President Joe Biden is reelected, the government will be “coming for your guns.” Biden has advocated a ban on so-called assault weapons, but he has not proposed confiscating ones currently owned. Trump followed it up by claiming that gun owners don’t vote as often as non-gun owners. That’s wrong. 
• "Biden’s ‘Buy America’ Spin": President Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that past presidents, including his predecessor, have “ignored” or “failed to uphold” laws requiring that federal government money be used to purchase only U.S. materials or products. Biden has expanded and emphasized such requirements, but we found no indication other presidents didn’t abide by the laws on the books during their tenures.
• "Trump Distorts New Regulation Extending ‘Obamacare’ to DACA Recipients": A new Biden administration rule will make recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals eligible to obtain health insurance plans established by the Affordable Care Act. But former President Donald Trump has mischaracterized the regulation, claiming that it is “giving Obamacare and all free government health care to illegal aliens.” 
• "Partisans Distort Proposed MOMS Act and Website for Pregnancy Resources": Republican Sen. Katie Britt has introduced a bill that would create a government website to help connect pregnant people with resources, excluding abortion services. Some Democrats and partisan websites have misleadingly claimed the proposed law would create a federal database of pregnant people. The bill doesn’t require users to provide any personal information. 
• "Social Media Posts Circulate Altered Image of Donald Trump, Stormy Daniels": Adult film star Stormy Daniels recently testified at the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump, who is charged with falsifying records during his 2016 campaign to conceal an affair with Daniels. Social media posts falsely claim to show evidence of the affair by sharing a fake, digitally altered photo of Donald and Melania Trump with Daniels.

• "El video ‘Who is Bobby Kennedy?’ promueve argumentos antivacunas ya refutados": Un video reciente que promociona al candidato presidencial independiente Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promete “comenzar con algunos hechos irrefutables”. El video, de más de 30 minutos de duración y narrado por el actor Woody Harrelson, parte con datos biográficos veraces del candidato, pero luego se desvía para promover varias afirmaciones desacreditadas o sin fundamento sobre las vacunas.
   
• "Biden confunde estadísticas sobre estudiantes hispanos": Según el Departamento de Educación, aproximadamente el 28% de los estudiantes en EE. UU. son hispanos. De acuerdo con datos de la Oficina del Censo, alrededor del 15% de los estudiantes en EE. UU. hablan español en casa. Y aproximadamente el 21% de los estudiantes provienen de hogares donde al menos una persona habla español. El presidente Joe Biden rutinariamente confunde estas estadísticas.