Fact check: What are the main allegations of tampering in the 2025 US elections?

1. Summary of the results

The 2025 US elections faced numerous allegations of tampering, falling into several key categories:

• Foreign Interference: Russian state media employees were indicted by the DOJ for funding conservative influencers to spread divisive content ^[1]. This included payments to pro-Trump social media influencers and hoax bomb threats at polling stations ^[2].
• Voting Machine Concerns: Significant allegations emerged in Rockland County, NY, including discrepancies between voter affidavits and machine counts, and questions about "de minimis" updates by Pro V&V testing lab ^[3].
• Statistical Anomalies: Election integrity groups identified unusual "drop-off vote" patterns in swing states, particularly Nevada ^[4]. Over 2.1 million Trump votes allegedly didn't correspond to down-ballot Republican candidates ^[3].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

• Scale and Evidence: While numerous allegations exist, multiple sources emphasize there is no evidence of widespread fraud that could have significantly impacted the election outcome ^{[2] [5]}.
• Administrative Context: Election officials have repeatedly demonstrated the robustness of election safeguards ^[5]. Isolated incidents of administrative errors do occur, but they don't indicate systematic fraud ^[5].
• Public Sentiment: About 70% of the electorate anticipated that Trump might reject an unfavorable outcome ^[6], indicating pre-existing expectations of election challenges.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

Several parties have vested interests in promoting election fraud narratives:

• Political Campaigns: Both Trump and Harris supporters have spread unsubstantiated claims, with Trump alleging "massive CHEATING" in Philadelphia and Harris supporters promoting their own conspiracy theories ^[2].
• Foreign Actors: Russian state media has demonstrable involvement in spreading disinformation ^[1].
• Domestic Groups: Organizations like True The Vote and the Election Truth Alliance (ETA) benefit from increased attention to election integrity concerns ^{[5] [4]}.

The Department of Homeland Security has warned that these conspiracy theories could spark domestic extremism ^[5], suggesting that the spread of such allegations, regardless of their veracity, poses its own risks to democratic stability.