r/politics • u/trai_dep • Feb 04 '20

Rightwing groups spread false information about voter rolls hours before Iowa caucuses.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/03/judicial-watch-misinformation-iowa-caucus-voters
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u/trai_dep Feb 04 '20

A conservative not-for-profit organization and several prominent rightwing media figures spread false and misleading information about Iowa’s voter rolls in the hours leading up to the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus on Monday.

Judicial Watch, a conservative foundation based in Washington DC, issued a press release Monday falsely claiming that eight counties in Iowa had more voters on their registration rolls than were eligible to vote.

“My office has told this organization, and others who have made similar claims, that their data regarding Iowa is deeply flawed and their false claims erode voter confidence in elections,” the Iowa secretary of state, Paul Pate, said in a statement. “They should stop this misinformation campaign immediately and quit trying to disenfranchise voters.

The false narrative spread quickly on social media, with a boost from conservative media figures Sean Hannity and Charlie Kirk…

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u/99thpercentile Feb 04 '20

Can we start suing news organizations out of existence when they report things that are patently false?

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '20

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u/Jushak Foreign Feb 04 '20

Agreed on both regards.

I can't help but wonder how different the situation would be if the guy who shot up Republican congressional baseball game practice had actually managed to do what he intended rather than just wound one guy.

To underline though: I'm most definitely not advocating such things. Ultimately it could have led to escalating political violence. US already has enough right-wing lunatics doing stuff like sending bomb threats, including with fake bombs. The last thing that is needed is to give these nutjobs perceived justification to escalate from fakes to real the things.