As polling continued, Donald Trump used his platform Truth Social to allege election fraud in Philadelphia. His claims quickly spread to other social media, especially Elon Musk-owned X, which has been spreading a lot of misinformation in this election.

Claim: "A lot of talk about massive cheating in Philadelphia. Law enforcement coming." This is what Donald Trump claims in one of his Truth Social posts. It has over 300,000 views on X, where it later went viral. 

DW Fact check: False

Philadelphia's officials have categorically denied any election fraud. City Commissioner Omar Sabir stated, "There is no cheating. There's no smoke to it. People say things, but that doesn't make them true. We learned this in 2020."

Trump has a history of making baseless election fraud claims, particularly after his 2020 defeat. But Sabir added, "Philadelphia elections are safe, simple, and secure, and they've always been," added Sabir. In addition, there are several checks, common sense procedures, and tools that every state and local jurisdiction uses to secure the voting process.

Seth Bluestein, who also serves as City Commissioner, also refuted Trump's claims, labeling them as disinformation. "Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure," Bluestein wrote  on X.

When asked about Trump’s claim, Cait Conley, a senior official at the federal cybersecurity agency,  CISA, stated that federal officials had been in close contact with their state and local counterparts across the country, and said, "We see no data or reporting to support these claims."

 

Nevertheless, Trump followed up with another post, stating, "Philadelphia and Detroit! Heavy Law Enforcement is there!" As before, he offered no evidence. His 2020 allegations of voter fraud were thoroughly investigated and deemed baseless by law agencies.

 

Detroit, in the battleground state of Michigan, is also central to the election. Alongside Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia, these states are expected to be decisive in determining the election outcome.

Philadelphia's District Attorney Larry Krasner dismissed Trump's allegations and challenged him to present any evidence. "The only talk about massive cheating has come from one of the candidates, Donald J. Trump. There is no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation," he wrote on X.

Trump's refusal to accept the 2020 election results led to a tense national situation, culminating in the Capitol attack. However, he said this time if he loses the election and "if it's a fair election," he would be the first one to acknowledge it.

This article is part of a collaboration between Germany's public broadcasting fact-checking teams ARD-FAktenfinder, BR24 #Faktenfuchs and DW Fact check on the US elections 2024.

Gudrun Haupt contributed to this story.