TRUMP CLAIM: Let tens of thousands of ineligible voters vote.
EXPLANATION OF STERLING: The actual number of ballots issued by ineligible voters is miniscule and not nearly enough to alter the outcome of the election.
Mr. Sterling also addressed more specific claims about ineligible voters:
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Mr Trump said thousands of people voted despite not being registered to vote. This is impossible, said Sterling: “You cannot do this. There cannot be a ballot issued to you, there is no way to tie it to you, there is nowhere for them to have a name to correspond to, unless they are registered voters. So that number is zero. “
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Mr Trump said that thousands of voters died before the election. Sterling said the secretary of state’s office found only two that fit that description.
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Mr. Trump said that hundreds of people voted using mailboxes instead of a home address. Sterling said the secretary of state’s office was still investigating, but that everyone he examined so far had actually used a suitable home address – just one for a multi-family home or apartment building.
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The Trump campaign said many criminals had voted. In fact, using records from the state’s penitentiary and probation departments, the secretary of state’s office identified only 74 people who could fall into that category – and Mr. Sterling said the final number would be even lower when the office completed its investigation, because in many cases, the person may have their voting rights restored after completing a sentence or may simply have the same name of a criminal.
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The Trump campaign said tens of thousands of people under the age of 18 voted. “The actual number is zero,” said Sterling, “and the reason we know this is because the dates are on the electoral register. There are four cases – four – in which people asked for their absentee vote before turning 18, but turned 18 on election day. This means that it is a legally issued ballot. “
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The Trump campaign said hundreds of voters voted in two states. Sterling said the authorities were still investigating, but that if such cases were confirmed, they would be “handful” and far enough away to change the outcome.
TRUMP CLAIM: That machines became votes, counting Trump’s bills as Biden’s.
EXPLANATION OF STERLING: If that had happened, Sterling said, the manual recount would have shown it, and it showed nothing of the sort.
Discussing hacking allegations, he added that the polls and scanners are not connected to the internet. “Neither has modems,” said Sterling. “It is very difficult to hack things without modems.”
TRUMP CLAIM: That election officials did not properly verify the ballot signatures in the mail.
EXPLANATION OF STERLING: The secretary of state’s office brought in signature experts, who examined more than 15,000 voting envelopes by mail. They found potential problems with just two, and after investigation, both ballots turned out to be legitimate.
TRUMP CLAIM: This, compared to previous election cycles, Georgia rejected a suspiciously low number of ballots in the mail.
EXPLANATION OF STERLING: The decrease in rejections is attributed to a recently passed law that gives Georgians a chance to correct problems, such as a rejected signature, with their ballots. Both parties had teams that roamed the state and contacted voters whose ballots were at risk of rejection, but Sterling said Democrats are simply better prepared for the task.
TRUMP CLAIM: That election officials tore the ballots.
EXPLANATION OF STERLING: “There is no ballot shredding going on,” said Sterling with clear annoyance. “This is not real. It is not happening. “