Fake: Dead Voters in Georgia

Suzy Woltmann

Politics

23rd November 2020

At least three of the voter fraud allegations are false (Getty Images).

The Claim

Three identities used to cast votes in Georgia were taken from dead people.

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Following the projected results of the U.S. presidential election, President Donald Trump and his campaign made several allegations about voter fraud, including that several people ostensibly casting votes in Georgia are actually dead. The claim was picked up by Fox reporter Tucker Carlson and soon went viral.

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation found that at least three of the allegations are false. One person mentioned by the Trump campaign, Linda Kesler, died in 2003 and was removed from the voter roll. Another person with a similar name, Lynda Kesler, legally voted this year, likely leading to the confusion. Similarly, Deborah Jean Christiansen died in 2019. Another Deborah Jean Christiansen with a different birthday and social security number voted in the 2020 election. CNN spoke to Christiansen, who said that the accusation of voter fraud is “just ridiculous.”

A second person listed by the Trump campaign, James Blalock, has also been removed from voter rolls. His widow voted using her registered name of “Mrs. James Blalock” on the ballot, which is legal. Agnes Blalock told 11Alive, “He’s not voting. He didn’t vote. It was me.”

Carlson apologized for the accusations on his show, saying: "So apologies for that, and of course we're always going to correct when we're wrong. And we were.”