Donald Trump's 2024 election victory is fueling claims of fraud on both sides of the political divide. His right-wing supporters claim the outcome vindicates their debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. To a smaller degree, those on the left are circulating their own baseless claims casting doubt on this year's results.

The election denial movement Trump inspired has spent the past four years building an infrastructure and community around false claims that 2020 was rigged. This year, it invested heavily in raising similar alarms that voting would again be compromised — only for those claims to evaporate as returns came in.

The narrative twist emerging in the wake of Election Day shows how the movement is continuing to sow doubt about the voting process even after their preferred candidate won. The new claims center on comparing popular vote totals in 2020 and 2024: Four years ago, Joe Biden received around 81 million votes; as of Friday afternoon Vice President Harris' total stood at 69 million, according to the Associated Press.

Election deniers have framed the difference as "missing" Democratic ballots that validate their suspicions about cheating in 2020. Some recirculated disproven theories about late-night ballot "dumps" that resulted in states that had early leads for Trump in 2020 shift to Biden as more votes were counted.

There are a couple straightforward reasons for the gap between Harris' and Biden's totals. First of all, votes are still...

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