Trump Cites Wrong Data in Claiming Pennsylvania Vote Irregularities
Friday afternoon Pennsylvania GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano posted a math problem on Twitter that he claims completely throws into question President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the state’s presidential election voting. Citing statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of State, Mastriano threw out a bunch of numbers showing subtotals of in-person, mail and provisional ballots cast for Trump and Biden and came up with the solution that 1,126,940 votes couldn’t be accounted for.
This was posted on our Department of State dashboard but had since been deleted. pic.twitter.com/bDmvCK0kDB
— Senator Doug Mastriano (@SenMastriano) November 27, 2020
Surely this was the ultimate smoking gun that Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and the rest of Trump’s supporters could use to prove that the election was rigged. Trump, too was convinced as he retweeted the state senator’s info just after midnight on Saturday: “1,126,940 votes were created out of thin air. I won Pennsylvania by a lot, perhaps more than anyone will ever know. The Pennsylvania votes were RIGGED. All other swing states also. The world is watching!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1332552283553476608?s=20
If Trump is right that the world is watching someone should tell him the world also is laughing at this latest Keystone Cops-like offering of “voter fraud.” That’s because the numbers posted by Mastriano and retweeted by Trump aren’t from the Nov. 3 general election. They’re from Pennsylvania’s June 2 primary election.
Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jonathan Lai and others pointed out Mastriano’s misrepresentation of the numbers on Twitter.
To be really clear about it, since I’ve gotten some questions:
1.8M ballots mailed in the *primary*
1.5M ballots returned in the *primary*2.5M ballots counted in the *general*
There’s no gap between 1.5M cast and 2.5M counted. Those are from two separate elections.
— Jonathan Lai 🙊 賴柏羽 (@Elaijuh) November 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/Eggymceggerson3/status/1332473835975811072?s=20
Another journalist commented: “That a Pennsylvania state senator would use figures from the wrong election is astounding. Either it’s ignorance or bad faith, neither of which is good for PA or the country.”
That a Pennsylvania state senator would use figures from the wrong election is astounding.
Either it's ignorance or bad faith, neither of which is good for PA or the country. https://t.co/NIp7sarPKS
— Derek Willis (@derekwillis) November 28, 2020
Never one to let cold hard facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory, Trump has yet to pull down the inaccurate tweet.
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