If Donald Trump “didn’t win Michigan why does the actual government site say he did?”
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No, Michigan’s government website doesn’t say Donald Trump won the election there
If Your Time is short
- The Instagram post shares a screenshot of the Michigan secretary of state’s website from before all votes were counted and reported to the secretary of state.
- According to unofficial results now on the government’s website, Joe Biden won with 50.57% of the vote.
A screenshot of the Michigan secretary of state's website has caused confusion after the election, leading some people to wrongly suggest that President Donald Trump won there.
We’ve already debunked the claim that news organizations called the state for Joe Biden even though Trump had more votes. Another social media post from singer Kaya Jones shared the screenshot and said: "If he didn’t win Michigan why does the actual government site say he did? Hmm."
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
Here’s an archived version of the secretary of state’s election results page showing what it looked like when the screenshot was taken. Then, the results were last updated at 9:37 p.m. on Nov. 3. They reflected that Biden had about 2.1 million votes, or nearly 47% of the votes counted and that Trump had 2.3 million votes, or about 51%.
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The Associated Press had declared Biden the winner in Michigan about four hours earlier, but they called the race based on data that was not yet posted on the secretary of state’s website. A spokesperson for the office told us that its website is always the last place election results are updated, and that people should check county websites first for more up-to-date information.
The unofficial Michigan election results now on the secretary of state’s website — last updated at 5:54 p.m. on Nov. 9 — show Biden with 2.79 million votes, or 50.57%. Trump won 2.64 million votes, or 47.91%, according to the page.
We rate this Instagram post False.
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Our Sources
Instagram post, Nov. 5, 2020
PolitiFact, Biden netted more votes in Michigan than Trump, Nov. 5, 2020
Michigan Secretary of State, 2020 Michigan election results, updated 9:37 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2020
Michigan Secretary of State, 2020 Michigan election results, updated 5:54 p.m. Nov. 9, 2020
The Associated Press, Understanding the election, visited Nov. 5, 2020
The Associated Press, Why AP called Michigan for Biden, Nov. 5, 2020
Email interview with Tracy Wimmer, director of media relations, Michigan Department of State, Nov. 5, 2020
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Ciara O'Rourke
No, Michigan’s government website doesn’t say Donald Trump won the election there
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