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(AP) ![\\"Miriam](\\" By Miriam Valverde November 5, 2020 # Social media posts falsely claim 40,000 votes for Jo Jorgensen became votes for Joe Biden in Pa. #### If Your Time is short * The claim is not supported by official data reported by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. * The posts claimed that by the time Pennsylvania had reported 56% of votes, Libertarian presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen had 89,000 votes, and that her count declined by 40,000 votes shortly after. The images appear to come from Google. We can’t verify their authenticity. * The latest information available from Pennsylvania election officials, with about 93% of votes counted, showed that Jorgensen had not yet reached 89,000 votes. See the sources for this fact-check Social media posts are promoting misinformation about the presidential election about lost and found ballots. A Facebook post falsely claimed that Wisconsin \"found\" 112,000 ballots at 3 a.m.\" Another post also wrongly claimed that \"Wisconsin took a break, and when they returned\" Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden \"coincidentally came back ahead by 100k.\" President Donald Trump, in his quest for reelection, falsely claimed there were \"surprise ballot dumps\" in several states. Now, posts on Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok are claiming that more than 40,000 votes once counted for Libertarian presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen in Pennsylvania \"magically\" went to Biden. A video posted on TikTok Nov. 5 shows what appears to be a screenshot of a Facebook post, which said: \"Wanna see 40,000+ votes for Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen magically become votes for Joe Biden? Abra cadabra! Nope. No fraud here.\" The Facebook post included two screenshots seemingly taken 12 minutes apart: one claimed to show Pennsylvania results at 56% reporting, the other, results at 59% reporting. The 56% reporting screenshot had these vote counts: Trump: 2,158,770 Biden: 1,571,693 Jorgensen: 89,025 The 59% reporting screenshot had these vote counts: Trump: 2,286,966 Biden: 1,674,122 Jorgensen: 46,987 So from one screenshot to the other, Jorgensen’s vote count is down 42,038. But the images do not show or prove that those votes became Biden votes. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on August 11, 2024 in an Instagram post Craigslist ad shows “every single person” at Kamala Harris’ Arizona rally was paid. ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Sofia Ahmed • August 13, 2024 According to the screenshots, Biden’s count increased by more than 102,000, not just the 42,038 purportedly taken away from Jorgensen. Trump’s count also increased by more than 128,000, yet the social media posts don’t similarly link Jorgensen’s alleged lost votes to Trump. We found no evidence that the screenshots even represent true counts at any point in time. The images are not from Pennsylvania’s official elections page; they match the look of images from Google’s election count, which says it relies on data provided by the Associated Press. We can\'t verify the authenticity of the images in the social media posts. By 5 p.m. eastern time Nov. 5, results posted by election officials in Pennsylvania showed that Jorgensen had around 74,000 votes, with about 93% of the state’s total votes counted. That tally is less than the amount she supposedly had at 56% reporting. PolitiFact reached out to Pennsylvania’s secretary of state for more information, but we did not hear back. Our ruling Social media posts claimed, \"40,000+ votes for Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen magically become votes for Joe Biden.\" We found no evidence that supports the claim. The posts claimed that by the time Pennsylvania had reported 56% of votes, Jorgensen had 89,000 votes, and that her count declined by 40,000 votes shortly after. The latest information available from Pennsylvania election officials, with about 93% of votes counted, showed that Jorgensen had not yet reached 89,000 votes. Given that Jorgensen did not have those 89,000 votes to begin with, the claim that 40,000 of her votes \"magically\" became Biden’s is baseless. Other data included in the posts also do not prove the claim. We rate the posts False. #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Twitter, @fiorella_im tweet, Nov. 4, 2020 Facebook post, Nov. 4 2020 Video on TikTok, Nov. 5, 2020 Pennsylvania Department of State website, 2020 Presidential Election unofficial results PolitiFact, No, President Trump, ‘ballot dumps’ in key states were not a magical surprise, Nov. 4, 2020; Fact-checking the avalanche of Wisconsin election misinformation, Nov. 4, 2020; Social media post falsely claims Wisconsin \'found\' 112,000 votes at 3 a.m., Nov. 4, 2020 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Miriam Valverde ![](\\" ![](\\" Pramila Jayapal stated on August 30, 2021 in an Instagram post: “The average hospital stay for a case of COVID-19 costs about $17,064. The vaccine is free.” ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • September 2, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Mitt Romney stated on August 29, 2021 in a CNN interview: The Trump administration worked to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners. ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • August 31, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Joe Biden stated on August 20, 2021 in a press conference: There has been “no question of our credibility from our allies around the world” regarding how the U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • August 26, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on August 16, 2021 in a Facebook post: COVID-19 vaccinations are “a violation of the Nuremberg code.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • August 20, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on August 4, 2021 in a press conference: Says Joe Biden has driven the current coronavirus surge because he “imported more virus from around the world by having a wide open southern border.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Louis Jacobson • August 6, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on June 16, 2021 in a press conference: “That meth … it’s almost all coming across the southern border and it’s been accelerating for the last six months.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • June 21, 2021 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 4, 2021 in an Instagram post: \"920 women lose their unborn babies after getting vaccinated.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • June 8, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on May 26, 2021 in a Facebook post: Police defunding is to blame for “skyrocketing murder rates” in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • May 28, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on May 25, 2021 in a Facebook post: “Biden agrees to Pelosi\'s request to resign.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • May 26, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on May 17, 2021 in social media posts: “Gas prices highest in a decade. Worst jobs report in 2 decades. Highest inflation in 3 decades. Highest increase in illegal immigration in 4 decades.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Louis Jacobson • May 26, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kevin McCarthy stated on May 12, 2021 in a statement to reporters: \"I don\'t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.\" ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • May 14, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on May 4, 2021 in a speech: “The global cost of corruption is as much as 5% of the world\'s GDP.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • May 7, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on April 19, 2021 in a speech: “If you look at some of these places that (reduced police funding), they’ve already seen crime go up.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • May 4, 2021 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on April 22, 2021 in an Instagram post: \"Mountains of data\" show drug ivermectin \"basically obliterates\" COVID-19 transmission. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • April 23, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on April 7, 2021 in a Facebook post: Says the nation is locked down and there’s “a wide open border.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • April 15, 2021 ### Social media posts falsely claim 40,000 votes for Jo Jorgensen became votes for Joe Biden in Pa. * ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on September 7, 2024 in a rally in Mosinee, Wis.: Vice President Kamala Harris “cast the tiebreaking votes that caused the worst inflation in American history, costing a typical American family $28,000.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Louis Jacobson • September 8, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" National Republican Senatorial Committee stated on August 28, 2024 in an Instagram ad: Elissa Slotkin “gave your hard-earned tax money to illegal immigrants.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Caleb McCullough • September 6, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 5, 2024 in a post: Video shows Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz dancing to Beyoncé in a cowboy hat and crop top. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sara Swann • September 6, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" X posts stated on September 3, 2024 in X posts: A group of 32 armed Venezuelans took over an apartment building in Chicago. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 6, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 2, 2024 in una publicación en Instagram: \"Kamala Harris aboga por censurar X en Estados Unidos al estilo de Brasil si es elegida presidenta en noviembre”. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 6, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on August 28, 2024 in an ad: Project 2025 would defund K-12 schools. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • September 6, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 4, 2024 in an Instagram post: “The entire family of Kamala Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz—they are all supporting Donald Trump.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 6, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Josh Stein stated on September 5, 2024 in a press release: “Mark Robinson skips Board of Education vote on teacher bonuses to hold campaign event.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Paul Specht • September 6, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 4, 2024 in an Instagram post: An image shows the social media profile of the accused suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 5, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on August 31, 2024 in a post: McDonald’s “said they have no record whatsoever of Kamala Harris ever working at any of their locations.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sara Swann • September 5, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. 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40000 votes for Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen magically become votes for Joe Biden