Fact check: Video shows hearing on Electoral Count Act reform, not proof of 2020 election fraud
The claim: Sen. Roy Blunt uncovered cheating in the 2020 presidential election during a hearing
The caption of a Jan. 2 Facebook video claims it shows Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., questioning a congressional witness who subsequently admits the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
“Watch Roy Blunt Excoriates Bi.d.en's witness to admits D.IRTY 2020 CH.EAT...brings proof to SCOTUS (sic),” the caption reads.
The video was viewed about 2,000 times in less than four days.
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Our rating: False
The video shows Blunt asking questions about a bill to reform the Electoral Count Act. He does not ask about or allege cheating occurred in the 2020 election. The miscaptioned video is an example of a trend in misinformation known as "false framing."
Committee hearing covered changes to Electoral Count Act
The video in the Facebook post shows part of an Aug. 3, 2022, meeting of the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration. The hearing was about a bill to change the Electoral Count Act, an 1887 law that specifies how to count the electoral votes from states for the presidency and vice presidency.
The act also gives guidance on what to do if there are objections to the results of an election, which occurred in 2020 when Republicans challenged electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania. That prompted bipartisan calls to update what some said is vague language in the act on how to handle those disputes.
In the 11-minute, 33-second clip, Blunt directed questions and comments toward witnesses that included New York University law professor Bob Bauer, attorney John Gore, former Ambassador Norman Eisen and University of Iowa law professor Derek Muller. Blunt asked about the impact of proposed changes in the law, particularly on each state’s existing procedures for addressing election disputes.
At no point in the clip does Blunt, or any of the witnesses, reveal any evidence of election fraud in the 2020 election. Numerous recounts, reviews and forensic audits have confirmed the 2020 presidential election results are legitimate, as USA TODAY previously reported.
Congress later approved changes to the act as part of a spending bill in December.
USA TODAY has debunked numerous posts in this vein that pair false captions with videos of politicians or cable news programming, a type of misinformation known as "false framing."
Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, previously told USA TODAY the technique works in two ways. First, users tend to trust a post that features authentic footage from what they recognize as a credible source. This style of misinformation then exploits how users often scroll past the video with the sound off, never realizing that the caption doesn’t match what the video shows.
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment.
Fact check: False claim video shows Sen. John Kennedy presenting evidence of '2020 fraud'
Our fact-check sources:
Senate Committee on Rules & Administration, Aug. 3, 2022, The Electoral Count Act: The Need for Reform
Mike Caulfield, Oct. 18, 2022, Email interview with USA TODAY
USA TODAY, Jan. 12, 2022, Electoral Count Act: What is it, how did it play a role in the 2020 election and Jan. 6, and why are there calls to change it?
USA TODAY, Nov. 4, 2022, Fact check: Video shows House GOP criticizing Jan. 6 committee, not laughing at Liz Cheney
USA TODAY, Dec. 23, 2022, Congress revises Electoral Count Act that Trump used to pressure Pence on Jan. 6
NPR, Dec. 23, 2022, Congress passes election reform designed to ward off another Jan. 6
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Video shows Senate hearing on Electoral Count Act reform
