Photos of Pennsylvania vote tallies on CNN prove the 2020 election was stolen.
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People wait outside a polling place to cast their ballots in the 2020 on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Media, Pa. (AP)
No, CNN coverage of results doesn’t prove 2020 election was stolen
If Your Time is short
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Joe Biden won Pennsylvania in the 2020 election by more than 80,000 votes.
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Vote counts shown on television change as more information is received from the field in the hours and days after polls close.
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As a new presidential election quickly approaches, the legitimacy of the 2020 election is still being questioned online.
A viral Facebook post claims the vote total for former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania was suspiciously reduced. The April 5 post includes two screenshots, one labeled "before" that shows Trump’s vote count at 1,690,589 and second one labeled "33 second later" that shows his count at 1,670,631. "We ALL saw it… 2020 was stolen!," the post’s caption said.
The Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
This claim is inaccurate. Biden was certified as the winner of Pennsylvania and several courts (including the U.S. Supreme Court) have rejected attempts to challenge the state’s election result. Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes.
Pennsylvania has the fifth largest number of electoral college votes, and voters there have flipped between Democratic and Republican candidates, making it a crucial state for presidential candidates.
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In the hours and days after polls close, television stations rely on partners to supply them with information about vote counts. Sometimes human error means that information is inaccurate. Results also change as more votes are counted after Election Day. In the case of the 2020 presidential election, Pennsylvania had a high number of mail-in ballots. Most of the mail-in ballots went to Biden, propelling him to victory in that state.
PolitiFact has previously debunked similar claims that attempt to use television news coverage as evidence of electoral fraud. Such claims were made in the 2022 Georgia Senate runoff and in the 2021 California governor recall election.
Claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump were a rallying call that eventually led the former president’s supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to disrupt Congress’ certification of Joe Biden as the winner.
We rate the claim that photos of Pennsylvania vote tallies on CNN prove the 2020 election was stolen False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, (archived link), Apr. 5, 2024
PolitiFact, Human error explains votes that ‘disappeared’ in CNN coverage of California recall, Sep. 15, 2021
PolitiFact, Why Joe Biden surpassing Donald Trump’s lead in 2020 Pennsylvania election doesn’t signal fraud, Mar. 29, 2024
PolitiFact, Fluctuating vote count on Fox News resulted from human error, not fraud in the Georgia runoff, Dec. 9, 2022
PolitiFact, Claims that the 2020 election was stolen are still false, May 4, 2022
The Associated Press, Native son Joe Biden takes Pennsylvania and the presidency, Nov. 7, 2020
BBC News, US Supreme Court rejects Trump-backed bid to overturn election, Dec. 12, 2020
WHYY, SCOTUS dismisses GOP lawsuits challenging 2020 election process in Pa., Feb. 22, 2021
The Daily Pennsylvanian, Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes, according to final count, Dec. 1, 2020
CBS News, Trump loses appeal in Pennsylvania: "Calling an election unfair does not make it so", Nov. 28, 2020
The Associated Press, Biden certified as winner of Pennsylvania presidential vote, Nov. 24, 2020
WiseVoter, Electoral Votes by State, accessed Apr. 11, 2024
American Oversight, Efforts To Audit And Undermine The 2020 Election In Pennsylvania, Apr. 11, 2023
The Associated Press, Biden transition OK’d to start as Trump runs out of options, Nov. 24, 2020
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No, CNN coverage of results doesn’t prove 2020 election was stolen
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