Tucker Carlson apologized on-air for making a false accusation of voter fraud in Georgia

• Fox News host Tucker Carlson apologized on Friday after a Georgia news station let him know that he had falsely claimed that a dead man voted illegally in the state.
• The voter in question, Agnes Blalock, is the wife of the late James Blalock Jr., and her registered voter name is “Mrs. James Blalock, Jr.”
• “He’s not voting,” she told the Atlanta-based news station 11 Alive. “He didn’t vote. It was me.”
• Carlson issued an apology on-air, saying that “we’re always going to correct when we’re wrong, and we were.”
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday apologized on-air after a Georgia news station informed him that he had falsely alleged that a dead man voted illegally in the state during the November election.

During a Thursday segment of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson said that a ballot had been cast for James Blalock of Covington, a World War II veteran who passed away in 2006. In reality, the ballot was cast by his widow, who is registered to vote under the name “Mrs. James R. Blalock, Jr.”

President Donald Trump’s campaign, which has issued a litany of lawsuits in a range of swing states to back up debunked claims of voter fraud, inaccurately released Blalock’s name as evidence of a dead individual who cast a ballot, which would point to voter fraud.

“No one quite embodies that story like James Blalock of Covington, Georgia. Mr. Blalock was a mailman for 33 years, until he passed away in 2006,” Carlson said on Thursday. “Fourteen years later, according to state records, he was still mailing things. James Blalock cast a ballot in last week’s election.”

—Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) November 12, 2020

Officials in Newton County, outside of Atlanta, released a statement on Thursday saying that the report was incorrect. The record that the Trump campaign touted as evidence of fraud actually revealed that the registered voter was Blalock’s widow.

“Her voter registration was signed as Mrs. James E. Blalock, Jr. and that is exactly how she signed her name when she voted in the Nov. 3 general election,” the officials wrote. “Newton County conducts its elections and voter registration efforts with transparency and attention to detail and hopes that any reporting on this or any other election be done [with] the same level of fact-checking and accurate information.”

The local Atlanta NBC affiliate, 11 Alive, pointed out the inaccuracies of Carlson’s report after county officials refuted the incidence of voter fraud. The station spoke with Agnes Blalock, a 96-year-old woman, who confirmed that she was indeed the one who voted.

“He’s not voting,” she said. “He didn’t vote. It was me.”

On Friday, Carlson issued an apology to viewers for giving them misleading information.

—Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) November 14, 2020

“We’ve got some good news tonight and an apology,” he said. “One of the people who voted in last week’s election isn’t dead. James Blalock is still dead. We told you about him, but it was his wife who voted. She voted as Mrs. James Blalock. It’s old-fashioned, and we missed it … It was Mrs. James Blalock, so apologies for that, and of course we’re always going to correct when we’re wrong, and we were.”

He also alleged that “a whole bunch of dead people did vote,” but noted that “James Blalock was not among them.”

A viral claim of thousands of deceased individuals voting in the election has spread across the internet in recent days and was debunked by The New York Times.

“Dead people whose identities were used to vote appear to be a popular subject for those who are spreading unsubstantiated claims of fraud about the election,” The Times said.

Decision Desk HQ and Insider declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election on November 6 and called Georgia for the president-elect on November 14. 

Trump, who fell far short of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, has so far refused to concede, pointing to largely debunked cases of voter fraud in an attempt to delegitimize the election.

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