Elections

The 2020 election: “stolen”?

The recounts, the lawsuits, the machines, the mules and the electors

RECORD / AT A GLANCE

Fraud-changed-the-outcome claim false

The central claim does not hold up. Isolated fraud exists in every election; nobody has shown fraud on the scale needed to overturn Biden’s margins in the decisive states. The legal cases built on the aftermath have had mixed fates, and their collapse is not proof the election was stolen.

THE EVENTS / THE INVESTIGATION / THE STORY

The chronology.

READ THE FILE

Evidence & assessment.

Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

The claims, rated.

4 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.

FALSE 2020 & January 6

“Dominion machines flipped votes from Trump to Biden.”

Hand counts found no flipping; Fox paid $787.5 million to settle Dominion’s defamation case after a judge ruled the claims false.

Who says it: Trump allies, some TV hosts.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

FALSE 2020 & January 6

““2000 Mules” proved paid operatives stuffed drop boxes.”

Its publisher apologized to a man it portrayed and withdrew the film; he had legally dropped off his family’s ballots.

Who says it: The film, supporters.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

FALSE 2020 & January 6

“Election workers in Atlanta pulled suitcases of fake ballots from under a table.”

Georgia investigators found ordinary ballot handling; a federal jury ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay the two workers $148 million.

Who says it: Rudy Giuliani, Trump.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

All 137 rated claims ↗

OPEN THE RECORD

Sources & limits.

Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.

  1. Georgia Secretary of State: statewide hand audit upheld the presidential result (November 19, 2020) ↗

    Contemporaneous state announcement of a full manual presidential tally; it validates the winner, rather than promising an election without administrative mistakes.

  2. Third Circuit: Trump campaign v. Boockvar, No. 20-3371 (November 27, 2020) ↗

    Read the actual narrow appellate question and the rejected injunction request. This decision is not a ruling on every allegation made in every state.

  3. AP: Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud, 1 Dec 2020 ↗

    Trump’s own attorney general on what the Justice Department had found.

  4. Special Counsel Jack Smith: election-case final report, Volume I (January 2025) ↗

    Prosecutor's account and charging assessment. Read the dismissal explanation around printed page 137; Trump was never tried in this case.

  5. AP: Fox, Dominion reach $787.5M settlement over false election claims, 18 Apr 2023 ↗

    Report on the settlement; Fox acknowledged the court’s finding that certain claims were false.

  6. AP: Publisher of “2000 Mules” apologizes to Georgia man falsely accused of ballot fraud, 31 May 2024 ↗

    Salem Media’s apology and withdrawal of the film.

  7. AP: Rudy Giuliani ordered to pay $148M to Georgia election workers, 15 Dec 2023 ↗

    Jury verdict for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

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