California will elect a recall governor on September 14. Gavin Newsom is a Democrat.
Supporters of recall are spreading claims of election fraud online.
Some of these claims have been proven false.
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Several claims of election fraud were made in relation to the September 14th election in California. They concern recalling Democratic Governor. Gavin Newsom has already begun to spread.
The San Francisco Chronicle conducted an analysis and found that conspiracy theories and false claims were common on the official Facebook page.
Nearly half of the 47 August 15 posts were found to contain "overtly false claims", references to conspiracy theories or expressions concern about election fraud in the comments or body.
Some state election officials are taking an active role in addressing the rumors that arose after the last year's presidential election was marred by unsubstantiated fraud claims.
KCRA was informed by Janna Haynes from the Sacramento County Elections Office that they are working hard to ensure voters' safety and security in light of conspiracy theories and claims regarding Dominion voting machines.
Haynes stated that while there have been isolated reports from other areas of the country that some people have hacked into (Dominion) voting machines, it is not indicative of what's happening in Sacramento County.
Donald Trump's allies made many false claims about Dominion's voting machines.
The New York Times refuted two claims about the recall election. The first was that the ballot envelopes contained holes to help screen ballots that were in favor of Newsom's recall.
The Times stated that the claims spread quickly online with one Instagram video reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers before finally getting a fact-check label.
The Times was told by a spokesperson for California Secretary of State's Office of Election Cybersecurity that the envelope holes are not new and help voters with vision impairments find where to sign.
Another online claim was about a felon who was found unconscious in a 7-11 parking lot. According to The Times, police were called and found the man holding a loaded firearm, drugs, and thousands of pieces mail including more than 300 unopened ballots.
According to right-wing websites, Newsom claimed that Ponegalek was trying to steal the election. However, Mark Ponegalek (a public information officer at the Torrance Police Dept.) told the outlet that Ponegalek's claims were "baseless."
Ponegalek stated that there was no evidence the man intended to commit electoral fraud, but that he may have meant to commit identity theft instead.
