Don't be fooled: 5 types of misinformation we expect this election season

USA Today
Add a third entry to the list of inevitable things in life: Death, taxes and baseless claims of election fraud.

The countdown to November's presidential election begins in earnest with the Super Tuesday primaries, and that means social media feeds will be filled in the coming months with some predictable claims. Stop us if you've heard these before:

• The election was stolen due to voter fraud
• Votes were added/subtracted due to "hacking"
• Changing vote totals are proof of cheating
• Partisan election officials are skewing vote tallies
• There were more votes than registered voters

Each of these claims has surfaced repeatedly in recent election cycles, but the online uproar stemmed from people unfamiliar with how the election system works or how to interpret election data.

USA TODAY has debunked dozens of false election-related claims stemming from those themes, which stand out for their prominence, persistence and significance. MORE