Social media posts claim a court ruling in the US state of Pennsylvania allows the counting of mail-in ballots received by November 14, 2022. This is false; the Pennsylvania Department of State says there was no such ruling, and its website indicates the return deadline for absentee votes cast in the midterm elections was 8 pm on November 8.

“This just in: Pennsylvania judge allows ballots to count that are received up until November 14th. This is unconstitutional, ” says a November 9, 2022 Instagram post sharing a screenshot of a tweet.

The screenshot has circulated across Instagram and other social media platforms, such as Twitter. The now-deleted tweet pictured in the posts was published by Kyle Becker, a conservative commentator who built a following by spreading unfounded allegations of fraud in the 2020 US presidential election.

Screenshot of an Instagram post taken November 8, 2022

The claim comes amid a flood of misinformation about absentee ballots cast in battleground states during the midterms. Some of the falsehoods targeted Pennsylvania, where Democratic US Senate candidate John Fetterman edged out Republican Mehmet Oz on November 9.

Claims that a judge ruled to extend the deadline for mail-in ballots until November 14 are false, according to a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State.

"This is not true and is disinformation," Ellen Lyon told AFP.

The Pennsylvania Department of State's online voter guide says: "November 8, 2022 at 8 pm -- VOTED...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiS2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy55YWhvby5jb...