Politics

America Woke Up Wednesday Morning To Conspiracy Theories About ‘Vertical’ Vote Counts In Michigan, Wisconsin

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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With the election still up in the air and several critical battleground states still uncalled, several conspiracy theories have emerged suggesting, without any evidence, that the election was stolen from President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump has claimed the election is being rigged in a series of tweets.

“Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled,” Trump said. “Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE, and the “pollsters” got it completely & historically wrong!”

“They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear – ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!” Trump tweeted Wednesday.

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has also shared a series of tweets insinuating the election is being rigged, retweeting JD Rucker, co-founder of Freedom First, who retweeted that “Biden miraculously garnering Chavez-like totals in the dead of night” is “a coup.”

Conservative Podcaster Graham Allen tweeted that Trump shouldn’t concede Michigan.

“ZERO CHANCE @realDonaldTrump can accept the MI results. It is a mathematical absurdity to believe 100,000 plus votes come in and NOT ONE goes to him?! This is going to go to the courts!”

Allen’s claim was retweeted by actor and outspoken Trump supporter Scott Baio.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Biden did amass a lead in Wisconsin and Michigan after Trump appeared to have initially been on track to win the states. While the Wisconsin race has yet to be officially called, there are reports that Biden is up roughly 20,000 votes with all votes counted. The Trump campaign has already requested a recount.

Biden also had a near 16,000-vote lead in Michigan, though the race is still too close to call.

However, there are tweets circulating that call into question an alleged injection of at least 100,000 votes in Michigan and another bump in Wisconsin for Biden. Voter tallies from both states spiked at around 6 a.m. in favor of Biden as more mail-in ballots were being counted, according to graphs of live tallies posted by FiveThirtyEight.

While these are solely allegations, Michigan and Wisconsin election officials refuse to explain Biden’s dramatic vote tally increase that occurred in both states overnight.

Decision Desk HQ, from which many screenshots of the supposed discrepancy were obtained, claimed that the jump in Michigan was due to a data error.

“It was a simple error from a file created by the state that we ingested. DDHQ does not correct/amend/adjust any state provided file. The state noticed the error and produced an updated count. This happens on election nights and we expect other vote tabulators in MI experienced this error and corrected in real-time as we did,” the company said in a statement, according to Politifact.

The jump in Wisconsin occurred when Milwaukee reported its absentee ballot results, according to USAToday.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and husband to Mercedes Schlapp, a Trump 2020 campaign senior adviser, said that Republican ballots in Arizona that were filled out with Sharpie pens were being invalidated.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said that ballots marked with Sharpie will be counted, according to Fox 10 Phoenix.

Maricopa County officials said Sharpies are used in voting centers because they have fast-drying ink which allows the counting process to speed up since the ballot is sent directly to the tabulation machine when voting in person, per the same report.

Chief Creative Officer of Turning Point USA Benny Johnson tweeted that Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is “going to try and steal” the state away from Trump, who is currently leading. (RELATED: Here’s Why Things Are So Tight In Pennsylvania)

“This bastard is going to try and steal Pennsylvania from Trump. He literally states that he’s going to do this. How much more evidence do you need? RT if you think Josh Shapiro should be NO WHERE NEAR PA ballots and should RESIGN for election interference”

While Trump remains ahead in Pennsylvania, not all the votes are counted. The Philadelphia Inquirer expects incoming ballots to push Philadelphia suburbs for Biden, leading to a blue shift. Votes will be counted through Friday.

The official Twitter account for Trump’s reelection campaign, Team Trump, also tweeted that the Democrats will “try to steal” the election, seeking donations from GOP donors. It’s unclear which races they were referring to.

“It’s only a matter of time before the Democrats try to steal the Election and manipulate the results. We need your help to ensure we have the proper resources to protect the Election. Donate NOW & FIGHT BACK”