Why Joe Biden surpassing Donald Trump’s lead in 2020 Pennsylvania election doesn’t signal fraud

Former President Donald Trump’s initial lead in Pennsylvania’s 2020 election is not evidence of voter fraud, as social media users have claimed.

A March 25 Facebook post contains a screenshot of an X post showing Newsmax election results. They show Trump leading by 57% in Pennsylvania's election. The screen’s top right corner shows "77%," referring to the percentage of the votes counted. 

"Just a reminder how much the demons had to cheat to win," the post’s caption said.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Trump was leading in Pennsylvania on election night in 2020. But Biden eventually won the state’s election by 80,555 votes and the national election by more than 7 million votes. Trump prematurely declared victory in the state, announcing he won the Electoral College votes on X, then called Twitter. 

PolitiFact previously reported that Biden surpassed Trump’s lead because of mail-in ballots. Biden won a majority of those mailed ballots, and this type of ballot is counted more slowly than in-person votes. 

Pennsylvania's election rules mandate that mail-in ballots be counted on Election Day, a process that takes time because election workers must open envelopes, check voters’ signatures and prepare ballots for scanning. That this takes time is not evidence of fraud. Most of the ballots counted in person were for Trump, while Biden won more than three-quarters of Pennsylvania’s mail ballots. 

We rate the claim that Donald Trump won Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election False. 

Former President Donald Trump’s initial lead in Pennsylvania’s 2020 election is not evidence of voter fraud, as social media users have claimed.

A March 25 Facebook post contains a screenshot of an X post showing Newsmax election results. They show Trump leading by 57% in Pennsylvania's election. The screen’s top right corner shows "77%," referring to the percentage of the votes counted. 

"Just a reminder how much the demons had to cheat to win," the post’s caption said.

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stated on December 12, 2019 in a Facebook post

Says a photo shows "a Trump rally in downtown Philly yesterday."

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Trump was leading in Pennsylvania on election night in 2020. But Biden eventually won the state’s election by 80,555 votes and the national election by more than 7 million votes. Trump prematurely declared victory in the state, announcing he won the Electoral College votes on X, then called Twitter. 

PolitiFact previously reported that Biden surpassed Trump’s lead because of mail-in ballots. Biden won a majority of those mailed ballots, and this type of ballot is counted more slowly than in-person votes. 

Pennsylvania's election rules mandate that mail-in ballots be counted on Election Day, a process that takes time because election workers must open envelopes, check voters’ signatures and prepare ballots for scanning. That this takes time is not evidence of fraud. Most of the ballots counted in person were for Trump, while Biden won more than three-quarters of Pennsylvania’s mail ballots. 

We rate the claim that Donald Trump won Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election False. ​

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