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This article was republished with the implied consent from FactCheck.org, authored by Saranac Hale Spencer on November 5, 2020
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On the second day without a clear outcome to the presidential election, a QAnon-related conspiracy theory has gained traction on social media.
QAnon followers, who regard President Donald Trump as a crusader against a shadowy group of elite pedophiles who supposedly run the government, have been posting bogus claims that many of the mail-in ballots being counted arenโt legitimate.
One widely shared version that started on Twitter and migrated to Facebooksays: โConsider: Dept of Homeland Security controlled โofficial ballotsโ production. Dems print extras, not knowing about non-radioactive isotope watermarks on โofficial ballotsโ. Military sting operation. After weeding out all counterfeit ballots, Trump landslide confirmed.โ
Another commonly copied post on Facebook says, in part: โThe โwatch the waterโ intel refers to โฆ..THE WATERMARK on the official election ballots!!!! โฆThe DEMS fell right into the trap of this sting operation and TRUMP has it all!!! Fraud will be exposed for the world to see.โ
Both of those posts are pure bunk.
First of all, the Department of Homeland Security doesnโt produce ballots. That task is handled by local governments which, typically, contract with printing companies to make the ballots. The Wall Street Journal reported in August on the increase in demand for mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As for the claim, โThe โwatch the waterโ intel refers to โฆ..THE WATERMARK on the official election ballots!!!!โ Thatโs an apparent reference to a February 2018 post from โQ,โ the pseudonym used by the person or people who post cryptic messages on internet message boards that are the basis for the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Itโs unclear why QAnon followers are pointing to this two-year-old message as support for a claim about fictitious watermarks on ballots in the 2020 election, but many of the clues posted by โQโ are either vague (such as, โwatch the waterโ) or wrong, such as the suggestion in 2017 that Hillary Clinton would soon be arrested.
Despite the flimsiness of the claim, it prompted at least one person to examine the remnant of her ballot with a magnifying glass and post a videoof her investigation on YouTube. The video appears to show some small specks on the strip of paper she examines.
โOh dear,โ she says in the video. โI think there is [a watermark] โฆ Are you guys seeing this? What do you guys think?โ
โTHE DEMS ARE IN FOR A GOOD ONE BOIS, THE TRAP WAS SET AND THEY TOOK THE BAIT. thanks for the video, youโre a legend,โ responded one user.
โTrump, you are a Goddamn genius,โ said another.
The video had been viewed more than 100,000 times as of Nov. 5, but it offered no proof of a watermark on a ballot, only a few small specks on a strip of paper.
Editorโs note:ย FactCheck.orgย is one of several organizationsย working with Facebookย to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be foundย here. Facebook hasย no controlย over our editorial content.
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Sources
โElection Administration at State and Local Levels.โ National Conference of State Legislatures. 3 Feb 2020.
โOur Government โ Elections & Voting.โ Whitehouse.gov. Accessed 5 Nov 2020.
Hufford, Austen and Joshua Jamerson. โVoting by Mail? These Companies Are Rushing to Print Your Ballot.โ Wall Street Journal. 21 Aug 2020.
Philadelphia City Commissioners. โPhiladelphia City Commissioners Live Stream.โ YouTube. Started streaming 3 Nov 2020.
Selk, Avi and Abby Ohlheiser. โHow QAnon, the conspiracy theory spawned by a Trump quip, got so big and scary.โ Washington Post. 1 Aug 2018.
- #TAGS: mail-in ballots, QAnon, US Elections, voter fraud
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