Fact check: Vote spike in chart of Michigan AG race shows reports from left-leaning area, not fraud

Ana Faguy, USA TODAY

November 24, 2022 at 5:02 AM·3 min read

The claim: Chart shows election fraud in Michigan attorney general race

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a frequent purveyor of baseless voter fraud claims, shared a series of posts on social media in the days after the 2022 midterms claiming voter tally charts were evidence of voter fraud.

In one case, he posted on Instagram what he claimed to be a chart that proves fraud occurred in the Michigan attorney general race between incumbent Democrat Dana Nessel and Republican challenger Matt DePerno.

The chart shows votes for Nessel and DePerno spiking sharply up at one point, with Nessel taking the lead.

"Another race being stolen in the middle of the night from Matt DePerno in Michigan," reads the caption of the Nov. 9 Instagram post. "We will never stop until the machines are melted down and turned into prison bars!!!"

The post received more than 17,000 likes in two days.

But that's not what the chart shows. The chart simply shows partial results for the attorney general's race, with a surge in votes for Democrats in particular when a large, left-leaning area reported its counts.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment.

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Voters cast their ballots at precincts nine and ten inside the gymnasium at Kennedy Elementary School in Pontiac on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov 8, 2022.

Chart shows partial results

Lindell's image shows the results for the attorney general race in Michigan up to 1:25 a.m. on Nov. 9, at which point the results of the race were not final.

The chart he shared shows the candidates relatively neck and neck until Nessel's votes spike and she jumps ahead of DePerno.

While Lindell points to the spike as evidence of fraud, Corwin Smidt, a political science professor at Michigan State University, told USA TODAY it merely shows when several Democratic strongholds reported their vote counts.

"When 68 of 83 counties had reported to the state at 4:30, which would be 1:30 PST, DePerno is ahead," Smidt said in an email, referencing an archived version of election results. "But when the more populous, Democratic-leaning counties report later in the morning, Nessel's numbers improve and surpass DePerno's."

Archived versions of the Michigan election website show the same progression in vote reports seen in Lindell's incomplete chart. An archived version of the website shows that at 1:10 a.m. on Nov. 9, the state had 25 of 83 counties reporting results, and DePerno was in the lead. By 4:41 p.m. on Nov. 9, the website shows all 83 counties had reported their results and Nessel was in the lead.

There are no credible reports of voter fraud in the Michigan attorney general race. DePerno conceded on Nov. 9.

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Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a chart shows election fraud in the Michigan attorney general race. The chart shows partial results of the election, with a spike in vote tallies for Nessel in particular when highly populated, largely Democratic counties reported their vote totals. The chart is not indicative of voter fraud.