FACT CHECK: Did Audits In Pennsylvania Reveal That Donald Trump Won The Election?

A post shared on Facebook claims audits of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election results revealed former President Donald Trump won.

Verdict: False

An audit of Pennsylvania’s election results in February 2021 found “strong evidence” that the initial results were accurate. President Joe Biden won the state by over 80,000 votes.

Fact Check:

Trump baselessly asserted multiple times on Twitter, until his account was permanently suspended in January, that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against him with the help of the election technology firm Dominion Voting Systems. The firm has refuted such allegations, and a November 2020 joint statement from the Elections Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee and Elections Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council said there is “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

In recent days, social media users have been sharing a claim that “so far according to Audits in Pennsylvania… TRUMP won!” (RELATED: Did A Dominion Voting Systems Whistleblower Say 3.8 Million Votes Were Switched To Joe Biden?)

There is, however, no evidence an audit of Pennsylvania’s presidential election results proved Trump to be the actual winner of the state. A risk-limiting audit pilot of the state’s election results found “strong evidence of the accuracy of the count of votes cast in the November 2020 presidential election,” according to a February press release from the state government.

There is no mention of any audit uncovering widespread fraud or error in the state’s presidential election on the Pennsylvania Department of State’s website. Had an audit of Pennsylvania’s votes for the 2020 election revealed that Trump actually won the state, media outlets certainly would have reported on it, yet none have.

Biden won the state by over 80,000 votes, Pennsylvania’s election returns website shows. The Pennsylvania Department of State certified its 2020 presidential election results on Nov. 24, according to a press release. Biden, who received 306 Electoral College votes, was sworn in as president on Jan. 20.

The claim may stem from a recent issue with Dominion Voting Systems’ voting machines in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, during a May 18 statewide primary election. Republicans began to report that their votes were being mislabeled as “Official Democratic Ballots” on the voting machine screen, according to local ABC News-affiliate WNEP-TV. The issue impacted all Republican ballots in the county, Fox 56 reported.

Nicole Nollette, a spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems, met with the Luzerne County election board and said, “The ballot header typo had minimal impacts on the actual administration on the election and no impact to the results,” according to Fox 56.

Pennsylvania’s Department of State did not respond to a request for comment.

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