Fox News anchor grossly misleads about voters who died in Michigan

Fox anchor suggests “864 dead people” voting in Michigan is evidence of fraud. Those were absentee votes where the voter died before election day.

Written by Bobby Lewis

Published

Updated

Update (8/18/20): Later on August 17, Martha MacCallum corrected her misinformation about Michigan’s 2020 state-wide primary election, saying that the ballots she previously scandalized were “from people who passed away after they voted, and to correct myself, those were also eliminated. So there’s no sign of foul play in that vote.” However, she continued to claim “in the big picture” that universal mail-in voting carries “concern” of voter fraud.

On August 17, Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum said on Outnumbered that “there is reason to be very cautious” about universal mail-in voting for the 2020 general election, because Michigan “had 864 dead people vote” in the August 4 state-wide primary election. “It’s an intentional action. It’s not a mistake,” MacCallum warned. 

The problem with MacCallum’s serious warning is that those 846 Michiganders (not 864) “died after casting their absentee ballot but before Election Day,” as the Michigan secretary of state’s website clearly states. Actual journalists have already corrected this misinformation, which is not evidence of voter fraud of any kind.

From the August 17, 2020, edition of Fox News' Outnumbered

MARTHA MACCALLUM (ANCHOR, THE STORY): We saw in Michigan, in the recent election there, they went through everything. You know, you hit the wrong addresses -- you get all the things that fall into those categories that you have to throw it out because something was checked wrong or doesn't hold up. They had 864 dead people vote. That is an intentional action. It's a small number, but it's worth noting, because it's an intentional action. It's not a mistake. So there is reason to be very cautious about how this is going to work going forward. 
 

MacCallum is scheduled to co-anchor Fox's coverage of the Democratic National Convention.