To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Conspiracy Theory That Dead People Voted In US Election Has Been Debunked

Conspiracy Theory That Dead People Voted In US Election Has Been Debunked

The 'dead voter theory' is only one of the several conspiracies Trump supporters have pushed as they try to cast doubt on the US election.

Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch

There have been loads of complaints about the 2020 US Election, mainly which have come from the Republican side of things.

Donald Trump and his staunchest allies have alleged, without providing decent evidence, that there was improper voting, issues with mail-in ballots and a whole host of widespread concerns that, if rectified, would hand him the win over Joe Biden.

Students for Trump founder Ryan Fournier declared that he had 'proof' of widespread voter fraud in Detroit, pointing to an absentee ballot cast by '118-year-old William Bradley' a man who had supposedly died in 1984.

"They're trying to steal the election," Fournier alleged in a since-deleted Facebook post.

Facebook

However, it has now been discovered that this, much like many of Donald Trump's recent baseless accusations against the Democrats, is simply incorrect.

The truth was, the deceased William Bradley hadn't voted.

In fact, it was his son, also named William Bradley, but with a different middle name, who had cast the ballot.

Michigan election officials later confirmed this, explaining that a clerk had entered the wrong Bradley as having voted in the election, but nevertheless, the error created a wildfire of misinformation spread by Trump supporters on social media.

PA

Secretary of state spokesperson Tracy Wimmer told the Guardian: "We are confident Michigan's election was fair, secure and transparent, and the results are an accurate reflection of the will of the people."

Trump supporters have also pointed to Napoleon Township's Jane Aiken, who they claimed was born in 1900, and cited an obituary as evidence that she was deceased.

Once again, this was debunked, with the town's deputy police chief finding that the obituary in question was for a different Jane Aiken.

Police told Bridge Magazine that the Aiken who cast the ballot is '94 years old, alive and well. Quite well, actually.'

PA

Michigan election officials added that they 'are not aware of a single confirmed case showing that a ballot was actually cast on behalf of a deceased individual'.

Among some of the reasons for the confusion could include the fact that election officials across the country purge dead people from voter rolls each year, though some are missed and remain as registered voters.

Occasionally, like what happened in William Bradley's situation, a worker will accidentally enter a vote by a living person as being cast by a dead person with a similar name.

The voting software in Michigan also requires a birthday for each voter, which will default to 1/1/1901 as a placeholder until the correct birthday can be found.

Rightwing conspiracy theorists have referenced multiple examples of residents with that birthday voting in the election as some sort of 'confirmation' of election fraud.

The 'dead voter theory' is only one of the many conspiracies Trump supporters have chosen to run with in order to cast doubt on election results, which saw Joe Biden set to become the country's next president.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Politics, US