Fact Check

Is Amazon Offering Free 1-Day Shipping for Ballots?

A routine review of content labeled satire.

Published Aug. 14, 2020

 (Flickr/Steve Jurvetson.)
Image Via Flickr/Steve Jurvetson.
Claim:
U.S. President Donald Trump was furious after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos offered Prime members free one-day shipping for all mail-in ballots for the November 2020 elections.

On Aug. 10, 2020, satirist and comedian Andy Borowitz published a Facebook post positing that U.S. President Donald Trump was angry at Jeff Bezos, billionaire CEO of Amazon, which runs the express Prime delivery service, for offering quick, free shipping to members voting by mail in the 2020 U.S. elections.

The post read, "Trump Furious After Bezos Offers Free One-day Prime Shipping For All Mail-in Ballots."

https://web.facebook.com/andyborowitz/photos/a.10152670532635681/10159791740225681/?type=3&theater&_rdc=1&_rdr

This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The claim originated on a comedian's Facebook page that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature. The page's "About" section links to Borowitz's writings for The New Yorker's "The Borowitz Report," which is described as "Not the news."

Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the U.S. in early 2020 and showed no signs of abating, various states planned to expand voting-by-mail ahead of the November elections as a safer alternative to in-person polling. But this stoked the ire of Trump, who argued without evidence that mail-in ballots would result in voter fraud and corruption.

The U.S. Postal Service works in conjunction with the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) to run the entire vote-by-mail process. There is no evidence that Amazon, which relies on the Postal Service for delivering millions of their packages every year, is involved in this process.

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

Sources

Al Jazeera English.  "Trump Says COVID-19 aid Stalled Over Funds For U.S. Postal Service."     13 August 2020. 

Fandos, Nicholas.   "Online Retailers Spend Millions on Ads Backing Postal Service Bailout."    The New York Times.  6 May 2020.

Lee, Jessica.   "Do Mail-In Ballots Increase Risk of Voter Fraud?"    Snopes.  26 May 2020.

U.S. Election Assistance Commission.   "Voting by Mail/Absentee Voting."      Accessed 13 August 2020.  

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