A post shared on X claims that there are 20 million “missing” votes in the 2024 presidential election.

kamala harris can request a recount up until december 11th. this election was won by cheating, through not counting every ballot. there are 20 million ballots missing. for the next month, we need to be loud, use our voices, and demand a recount. #Recount2024

— lilac ₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺ 11 (@ineffablester) November 6, 2024

Verdict: False

There is no evidence of 20 million “missing” votes. At least two experts have predicted that the amount of votes will be near the 2020 total.

Fact Check:

Former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to secure his second-term as president, according to The Associated Press (AP). As of publishing time, Trump has 72 million votes to Harris’s 68 million, per the AP.

Social media users are claiming that there are 20 million “missing” votes and claimed Trump cheated. One user wrote, “kamala harris can request a recount up until december 11th. this election was won by cheating, through not counting every ballot. there are 20 million ballots missing. for the next month, we need to be loud, use our voices, and demand a recount.”

There is no evidence of 20 million missing ballots nor that the election was stolen. No media outlets have reported on the matter. On the contrary, officials have stated that the election was conducted securely.

“As we have said repeatedly, our election infrastructure has never been more secure and the election community never better prepared to deliver safe, secure, free, and fair elections for the American people. This is what we saw yesterday in the peaceful and secure exercise of democracy. Importantly, we have no evidence of any malicious activity that had a material impact on the security or integrity of our election infrastructure,” Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) director Jen Easterly said in a Nov. 6 statement.

“The voters of Georgia have spoken, and we are prepared to defend the election results against any legal challenge. This election was free, fair, and accessible to every eligible Georgian. As always, we will follow the law and the Constitution to protect the will of The People,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Nov. 6 in a tweet.

Experts have predicted that the vote total for 2024 would be at or near 2020 levels. 158.4 million people voted in 2020, according to USA Today.

Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst of The New York Times, said in a Nov. 7 tweet that the outlet predicted around 157.5 million votes, which was near the 2020 total.

Our last estimate for the final turnout in the presidential election is 157.5 million, almost matching 2020 in raw votes though falling a tick lower as share of eligible voters, given population growth.

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 7, 2024

“Our last estimate for the final turnout in the presidential election is 157.5 million, almost matching 2020 in raw votes though falling a tick lower as share of eligible voters, given population growth,” Cohn tweeted.

Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida, estimated that 158,549,000 people voted in the 2024 election. BBC Verify reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh pointed out that votes still need to be counted.

Partisan liberals and conservatives are both making false claims about “20 million missing votes”.

Liberals say it’s evidence of fraud in 2024, conservatives say it’s evidence of fraud in 2020.

Both seem unaware that millions of votes are yet to be counted in several states. pic.twitter.com/vmz5JB7OaJ

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) November 7, 2024

 

“Partisan liberals and conservatives are both making false claims about “20 million missing votes”. Liberals say it’s evidence of fraud in 2024, conservatives say it’s evidence of fraud in 2020. Both seem unaware that millions of votes are yet to be counted in several states,” Sardarizadeh tweeted.