Fact Check

Are 9.7M Votes for Trump Missing in California?

False conspiracy theories following the 2020 election continue to spread on social media.

Published Nov. 5, 2020

 (Twitter)
Image Via Twitter
Claim:
Some 9.7 million votes for U.S. President Donald Trump's reelection were missing in California in November 2020.

Voting in the 2020 U.S. Election may be over, but the misinformation keeps on ticking. Never stop fact-checking. Follow our post-election coverage here.

On Nov. 5, 2020, the Twitter account @GregRubini tweeted: "BREAKING: 9.7 Million V O T E S are missing in California! I bet they are all for Trump." After three hours, it had been retweeted 8,100 times and received 13,500 likes. It was also shared as a screenshot on Instagram and Facebook.

No evidence exists that 9.7 million California votes or ballots are missing. The tweet was unsourced, and the state of California had made no such announcement about "missing" votes. We were also unable to find statements from any Republican or Democratic state politicians voicing concerns about the subject of the tweet.

In 2016, Californians cast more than 14.2 million ballots for the president, with Trump receiving 4,483,810 of those votes and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton receiving 8,753,788 votes. As of Nov. 5, 2020, with 74% of the vote counted, 3,969,396 votes had been counted for Trump in California and 7,882,128 votes for former Vice President Joe Biden.

The claim in the unsourced tweet appeared to be made up.

Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016.

Article Tags