These false stories — including one that claims people stole women's maiden names to vote — were shared widely online over the past week. Here are the facts.
CLAIM: Voter fraud has been found after women’s maiden names were used to cast ballots in other states.
THE FACTS: The false narrative that women’s maiden names were being used without their knowledge to cast votes in other states circulated with the hashtag #maidengate, and was targeted at states including battlegrounds Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Voters deliver their ballot to a polling station, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Matt YorkCLAIM: In Fulton County, Georgia, 132,000 ballots had a “change of address” and the votes are likely to be “ineligible.”
THE FACTS: On Nov. 8, false claims surfaced on social media regarding votes in Fulton County, home to the state's capital, Atlanta, where more than 522,000 people cast ballots in the presidential election.
A worker returns voting machines to storage at the Fulton County Election preparation Center Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
John BazemoreCLAIM: Dead people in Pennsylvania voted in the 2020 presidential election.
THE FACTS: Election experts say false claims about dead voters come up every election. One tweet that repeated the false claim stated: “These are some of the people who voted in #PA...840 were 101 years old or older, 39 lived through the Civil War, 45 were born in the 1800s.” The tweet had over 18,000 retweets.
FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 file photo, people line up outside a polling place to vote in the 2020 general election in the United States in Springfield, Pa. On Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly asserting that dead people in Pennsylvania voted in the 2020 presidential election. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Matt SlocumCLAIM: A photo of Major Biden, a German shepherd, shows the dog is nearly as tall as President-elect Joe Biden when he is seated.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The photo has been altered to make it appear Major is much larger than he is in real life.
This Nov. 16, 2018, photo, provided by the Delaware Humane Association shows Joe Biden and his newly-adopted German shepherd Major, in Wilmington, Del. (Stephanie Carter/Delaware Humane Association via AP)
Stephanie CarterCLAIM: Video shows two men at a church wedding discovering discarded and torn ballots marked for President Donald Trump in the trash.
THE FACTS: Officials with the Oklahoma State Election Board said the video shows spoiled ballots where the voter marked more than one option. The ballots were discarded at a polling place.
FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020 file photo a long line of cars is pictured outside the Oklahoma County Election Board for early voting Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Sue OgrockiCLAIM: A photo shows a Fox News broadcast with a chyron that says: “Fox News confirms: George Soros is majority owner of new social platform Parler.”
THE FACTS: Social media users are circulating an image that claims to show a Fox News broadcast with a chyron that alerts viewers to a story that Parler, a conservative social media platform, is owned by liberal billionaire George Soros.
FILE - In this June 21, 2019, file photo, George Soros, founder and chair of the Open Society Foundations, attends the Joseph A. Schumpeter award ceremony in Vienna, Austria. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File)
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