Donald Trump says there are ‘big problems and discrepancies with mail in ballots’ and Twitter quickly flags his tweet as misleading
- Donald Trump on Monday night tweeted there were issues with mail-in votes
- ‘Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA,’ he said
- Twitter marked the tweet as being misleading and partially hid the content
- Twitter said it ‘might be misleading about how to participate in an election’
- Trump also added, without explanation: ‘Must have final total on November 3rd’
- Most experts caution the final result may well take several days to come through
Donald Trump on Monday night tweeted that there were ‘big problems’ with mail-in ballots, in a tweet swiftly marked as misleading and blocked from sharing.
‘Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA,’ he tweeted.
‘Must have final total on November 3rd.’
It was unclear what he meant by ‘final total’.
Donald Trump, pictured on Monday night, tweeted that there were ‘big problems’ with voting
He could have been calling for the election result to be declared on the night of November 3.
In 2016 it was declared at 2am, after a long night of anticipation.
Many experts believe that the result of this year’s contest will not be known for several days, given the unprecedented level of mail-in votes, and the fact that many states do not allow the mail-in ballots to be counted until election day itself.
He could have been calling for all mail-in ballots to be received by November 3.
Several states, notably Pennsylvania, will still count votes postmarked on November 3 even if they arrive three days later.
The case has been bitterly fought, ending up last week at the Supreme Court, which ruled that the three-day policy could stand.
Republicans are hoping to ask the Supreme Court to look again at the issue in full, and hope that, with Amy Coney Barrett now officially appointed, they will have the votes to swing the decision their way and end voting in Pennsylvania on November 3.
The Supreme Court has not yet agreed to take up the case – which is of vital importance, given Pennsylvania’s position as a swing state, with a hefty 20 electoral college votes.
The social media company flagged Trump’s tweet as misleading, adding the disclaimer: ‘Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about how to participate in an election or another civic process.’
The tweet could not be liked or retweeted directly: instead of a simple retweet, the words were shielded with the warning about the content being misleading.
They then linked back to their ‘Civic integrity policy’.
‘The public conversation occurring on Twitter is never more important than during elections and other civic events,’ the authors write.
‘Any attempts to undermine the integrity of our service is antithetical to our fundamental rights and undermines the core tenets of freedom of expression, the value upon which our company is based.’
The company said that they would suspend accounts for ‘severe or repeated violations of this policy’.
Twitter linked users back to a page explaining the mail-in voting system
Utah (above) is one of several states to move to mail-in ballots for presidential elections
Utah County Election workers deliver sealed boxes containing ballots to be processed to the election office on Monday in Provo
The new guidelines were introduced on October 20 and will be temporary, Twitter said.
Twitter has frequently flagged the president’s tweets as breaching their guidelines.
His tweets in response to the George Floyd protests have been flagged as inciting violence, while his tweets about the coronavirus pandemic have been marked as misleading.
Trump and his team are trying to use this to their advantage, claiming that they are not only fighting the Democrats but also the ‘fake news’ media and tech companies.
When the new policy was announced by Twitter, the Trump campaign reacted angrily, labeling them ‘extremely dangerous for our democracy.’
‘After months of Big Tech censorship against President Trump, the unelected liberal coastal elites of Silicon Valley are once again attempting to influence this election in favor of their preferred ticket by silencing the President and his supporters,’ said Samantha Zager, deputy national press secretary for the Trump campaign.