These pictures have been doctored using stock images from the internet
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on November 6, 2020 at 16:10
- 3 min read
- By Mary KULUNDU, AFP Kenya
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“Let me just drop this right here,” reads a Facebook post circulating in Kenya, along with an image of two men unpacking boxes purportedly inscribed with the words “Emergency Democrat Votes” in reference to the US presidential elections.
It echoes unsubstantiated claims by President Donald Trump of electoral fraud in a number of outstanding states where Democratic challenger Joe Biden has gained ground or taken the lead. During a press conference at the White House on November 4, 2020, Trump said: “They’re finding ballots all of a sudden. It’s amazing how all those mail-in ballots are so one-sided”. AFP Fact Check debunked his claims here.
The images of boxes inscribed with the words “Emergency Democrat Votes” were shared online as proof of election fraud.
The same picture was published here in the US, as well as here and here alluding to the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Likewise, another post published on this Facebook page, which according to Facebook's transparency information is managed from Uganda and Jordan, shared a similar type of image showing a woman unloading boxes labelled "Emergency Democrat Votes".
“Hang on we found more votes!” reads a caption on the image.
The same picture was shared in Canada (here) and on Twitter here and here.
In both instances, comments in the posts appear to reflect the belief that these images are authentic.
Digitally altered boxes
However, both images originate from stock sites and have been digitally edited to include the words “Democrats Emergency Votes” on the boxes.
A reverse images search located the image of the two men in blue uniforms on iStock, an online photo library owned by Getty Images.
The words “Democrats Emergency Votes” do not appear on the boxes, which are blank. “Delivery man unloading cardboard boxes from truck while colleague writing on clipboard,” reads the generic caption.
Another reverse image search, this time on the second post, led to the original series of photos of the woman unloading cartons on Adobe Stock images. Again, the panels on the boxes are blank and do not contain any reference to the Democrats and emergency votes.
There have been numerous unfounded electoral fraud claims regarding US election ballots which AFP Fact Check has debunked here.
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