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Don't fall for the Disinformation about Voter Fraud

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I think we can all agree that the Trump administration has taken extraordinary steps to delay the inevitable conclusion that Trump lost the elections, period, end of story.

Attempted legal action and a whole host of other parlor tricks are great media fodder.

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But, ultimately, Trump will not prevail.

He just clearly didn't win.

But I want to talk to you about the ongoing Russian intelligence op to convince Americans that there's widespread voter fraud.

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Voter fraud in America is rare. Not just a little rare. EXCEEDINGLY rare.

Earlier this year, MIT election expert Charles Stewart III completed a 20 year study on election fraud.

Not only is it exceedingly rare, it is also HIGHLY prosecuted, because federal law

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enforcement AS WELL AS the intelligence community monitor elections very closely.

To quote The Hill's article, "There have been just over 1,200 cases of vote fraud of all forms, resulting in 1,100 criminal convictions, over the past 20 years.

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Of these, 204 involved the fraudulent use of absentee ballots; 143 resulted in criminal convictions."

"Let’s put that data in perspective.

One hundred forty-three cases of fraud using mailed ballots over the course of 20 years comes out to

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seven to eight cases per year, nationally. It also means that across the 50 states, there has been an average of three cases per state over the 20-year span. That is just one case per state every six or seven years."

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"We are talking about an occurrence that translates to about 0.00006 percent of total votes cast."

https://t.co/MJZUEDxZpx

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In 2016, there were concerns after hackers associated with Russian military intelligence gained access to a election systems.

A full intelligence community-wide investigation was launched and the intelligence community assessed that no actual votes were affected.

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Here's the report:

https://t.co/dArUQaIdRE

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Since 2016, both federal law enforcement and the intelligence community have published countless updates and states regarding election security.

Not only have they worked to secure election security, they have sought to educate the general public about Russia's tactics.

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Russia's modus operandi hasn't been to change actual votes, it has been to create chaos and distrust of our election processes.

In other words, generating fear and panic about election fraud.

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One of the worst agents provocateur has been an account right here on Twitter, @Greg_Palast .
Greg is and has been touting election fraud for years, all while being openly compensated by the Russian government.
Here are a couple pictures of Greg, as a guest on Russia Today.

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Greg has recently seized on the extremely partisan environment in Georgia's elections to capitalize on fears over election fraud. He began focusing on Georgia after Stacey Abrams lost the gubernatorial election.

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Disinformation is complex.

But what makes it so effective is that it is engineered around our own ideological biases.

Russia and Russia Today is particularly effective at creating fears by targeting American left-wingers who dislike Trump.

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Russia Today has always tended to target the Left-wing more than the Right-wing.

Prior to the 2016 elections, they were practically Bernie Sanders whole advertising campaign:

https://t.co/PETjDlL5ce

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More from Politics

This is partly what makes it impossible to have a constructive conversation nowadays. The stubborn refusal to accept that opposition to Trumpism and GOP nationalism is about more than simply holding different beliefs about things in and of itself. 👇


It's fine for people to hold different beliefs. But that doesn't mean all beliefs deserve equal treatment or tolerance and it doesn't mean intolerance of some beliefs makes a person intolerant of every belief which they don't share.

So if I said I don't think Trumpism deserves to be tolerated because it's just a fresh 21st century coat of cheap paint on a failed, dangerous 20th century ideology (fascism) that doesn't mean I'm intolerant of all beliefs with which I disagree. You'd think this would be obvious.

Another important facet. People who support fascist movements tend to give what they think are valid reasons for supporting them. That doesn't mean anyone is obliged to tolerate fascism or accept their proffered excuse.


Say you joined a neighborhood group that sets up community gardens and does roadside beautification projects. All good, right? Say one day you're having a meeting and you notice the President and exec board of this group are saying some bizarre things about certain neighbors.

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