Drop-Off in Democratic Votes Ignites Conspiracy Theories on Left and Right
There is nothing suspicious about the shift in Democratic fortunes. But partisans from across the spectrum are questioning the results, for different reasons.
When President-elect Donald J. Trump was announced the winner of this year’s presidential contest on Wednesday, the vote tallies initially suggested a sharp drop-off of millions of Democratic votes compared with the results in 2020.
To some Republicans, that slump was evidence that the 2020 election had been fraudulent, that Democrats had somehow conjured millions of phantom votes that year — despite repeated confirmation from election officials, statewide audits and courts that nothing nefarious had occurred.
The shortfall also set off doubts among the internet’s left flank, but for different reasons. Hundreds of thousands of posts on social media implored Vice President Kamala Harris to avoid conceding over suspicions that millions of votes were somehow “missing” this year — despite assurances from federal agencies that the election was safe and secure.
Though it is unusual for opposing political camps to create conspiracy theories from the same material, supporters of both candidates have fixated on Democrats’ underperformance this year as a central narrative. The conversation online highlights the appeal that election fraud stories have to partisans of all stripes — especially those facing electoral defeat — and the power of social media to help those ideas go viral, despite ample evidence that the concerns are meritless.
Though election officials dealt with a variety of complications on Election Day this year, Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, concluded there was “no evidence of any malicious activity that had a material impact on the security or integrity of our election infrastructure.”
As more ballots were counted in the days since, estimates from The Associated Press suggest that the number of votes cast this year will be about 157.6 million, down about 700,000 from 2020. The gap between Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris has continued to narrow as more votes are counted in left-leaning states like California, Washington and Oregon, which take time to process mail ballots.
