Cultists Revive 2020’s “Sharpiegate” Ballot Marking Lies

The Washington Post reports:

The meme, plastered across online platforms such as Twitter and the fast-growing messaging app Telegram, may be unintelligible to anyone not steeped in the misinformation and fearmongering fueled by reports of smeared ballots in Arizona’s Maricopa County during the state’s August primary.

But it illustrates how misinformation is operating in 2022. The message recycles key narratives from 2020, when President Donald Trump refused to concede and his allies spread baseless claims about election manipulation, including that the use of Sharpies to mark ballots caused them to be thrown out.

David Clements, an attorney and former business school professor who has been traveling the country spreading discredited claims of election fraud, recently took to Telegram, where he has more than 100,000 followers, to liken “Using a blue ballpoint pen” to the struggle for freedom in the epic film “Braveheart.”

Read the full article. Cultists are again claiming that votes with anything but a blue pen will be “overridden” by Dominion machines.

A meme about blue pens shows how 2020 false claims still warp voting in 2022
Via @isaacstanbecker https://t.co/O2w3OV3imm

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) November 7, 2022

No nuclear Armageddon
No more billions for Ukraine
No more cost of living crisis
No more energy crisis
No more censorship
No more fake news
No more inflation

Let’s investigate Biden corruption and Covid Fauci

Vote on Election Day
Bring a blue pen
Vote in person#Midterms2022 ??

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) November 2, 2022

From what I have read, bring your own blue pen and use only blue. Evidently it makes it harder for the machines to change your vote. Please retweet. pic.twitter.com/BNJO90kkF4

— Karen Peck (@karpec9246) November 6, 2022

FACT CHECK: Ballots marked with #Sharpies are counted, and Sharpies do not cause any problem for Michigan vote-tabulation machines. https://t.co/GKEZu1HhTn pic.twitter.com/IbdjJkuIxv

— Michigan Department of State (@MichSoS) August 2, 2022

Just this weekend, OAN gave AZ gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake a platform to complain that (the widely debunked) “SharpieGate” happened to her, too, and that she would “seek justice” against those “responsible for the corruption of our elections” https://t.co/sClGC3Utea pic.twitter.com/5sJht2mTMf

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) May 10, 2022