In search of 2020 voter fraud: There's not much there, there

By FactCheck.org
A service of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania

As the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol began its hearings, Deputy Managing Editor Robert Farley did a deep dive on "2000 Mules," a film by conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza.

The film, which is playing in select theaters around the country, uses cell phone data and surveillance video in an attempt to show that there was “coordinated, systematic fraud" in five key states in the 2020 presidential election -- perpetrated by "mules" who allegedly collected and dropped off illegal mail ballots in drop boxes.

But, as Rob explains, the supposed evidence is speculative and does not provide the proof that the filmmakers claim.

So far, the Georgia Board of Elections has investigated and dismissed three cases brought to the board by the filmmakers. In all three cases, the so-called "mules" were dropping off legitimate ballots for immediate family members who live in the same household. That's legal under Georgia's law.

As we have written many times before, election fraud is rare. And as we heard this week, even former President Donald Trump's own attorney general, William Barr, said he doesn't believe the claims of widespread fraud.

In taped testimony played at the committee's June 9 hearing, Barr recalled his conversations with Trump in late 2020: "I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the President was bullshit. And, you know, I didn't want to be a part of it. And that's one of the reasons that went into me deciding to leave when I did."

For more about the film, see "Evidence Gaps in '2000 Mules'."