Associated Press: Minor poll problems twisted into false US election claims

Voters did not encounter widespread problems on Election Day. That has not stopped former President Donald Trump and other Republicans from falsely portraying minor snags at polling places to undermine confidence in the results.

Two years after conspiracy theorists spread lies about President Joe Biden stealing victory from Trump, they are now propagating smaller lies about the 2022 midterm elections.

Trump and GOP allies are distorting the truth about election hiccups that experts say officials handled well, including voting machine malfunctions in Arizona’s largest county and errors in the poll books used to sign in voters in Michigan’s largest city. …

Trump and some of his supporters sought to amplify problems with scanning ballots in roughly 25% of polling places in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and the majority of the state’s population.

“The most concerning thing is the way those isolated incidents are being used to spread mis- and disinformation and lies around the election in an attempt to undermine people’s confidence and faith in the election,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for the nonpartisan group Common Cause.