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03.16.2021 0

ABC News uncovers ‘rigged’ homecoming queen election

“This is an embarrassment that should be lampooned from here to the moon and back.”

By Catherine Mortensen

Disney-owned ABC News is breaking a story of a rigged election for homecoming queen in a Florida high school.  Conservatives are mocking the network for spending more time reporting on allegations of voter fraud in this election than the 2020 presidential race.

On Twitter, the Pissed off Conservative tweeted, “Its more important to have a fair election for Homecoming Queen, than it is for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

Curtis Houck is managing editor of NewsBusters at the Media Research Center where he chronicles the best and worst of the network evening newscasts, primetime cable shows, and late-night comedy programs. He said this ABC News story reads like something from the satirical “news” sites the Babylon Bee and the Onion.

“How ridiculous is it that ABC News poured their resources into investigating voter fraud in a homecoming queen election?” Houck asked. “They will take seriously allegations of voter fraud in this election, but even the possibility of fraud in a federal or statewide election is considered a conspiracy theory.

“This is an embarrassment that should be lampooned from here to the moon and back.”

Americans for Limited Government could find no evidence that ABC News ever ran a substantive investigative story on any of the credible allegations of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election. Instead, we found stories such as this one from Nov. 13, A look at 5 false or misleading Trump team claims of election fraud.

“The government insists that there are mechanisms in place to prevent [election fraud] from happening,” explained Houck. “I’m sure that’s what the school said, too. That’s the thing with these people, it’s always ‘trust us, don’t ask questions.’ But isn’t that the basic job of a journalists, to ask questions of the government?”

Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning tweeted out a link to the ABC News story with this commentary, “Maybe their investigative team that focuses on high school homecoming elections can be turned loose on the somewhat less important national presidential elections.”

Manning added, “It truly is sad that ABC News has become such a Mickey Mouse organization.”

According to ABC News, the fraud, which allegedly occurred last October, was uncovered when the Escambia County School District in Florida contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to report unauthorized access into hundreds of student accounts after discovering that 117 votes for Tate High School’s Homecoming Court were allegedly originating from the same IP address in a very short period of time. This led investigators to Laura Rose Carroll, 50, and her 17-year-old daughter.  Investigators allege that Carroll, an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School, and her daughter, a student at Tate High School, had accessed student accounts and fraudulently voted from them.

“I think people of all political stripes – conservatives, liberals and progressives — can agree that you cannot trust human beings to always act with the purest intentions,” added Houck. “ABC News seems more concerned about allegations of voter fraud in a high school homecoming queen election than in fraud in elections for more than 400 House seats and 100 senate seats.”

Houck is referring to legislation under consideration in states such as Arizona and Georgia that would protect election integrity in future elections. ABC News recently described H.R. 1, a measure in Congress that would eliminate virtually all election protections, as “something Democrats say is urgently needed as Republican-controlled state legislatures scramble to change voting laws in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.”

“Instead of focusing on protecting our state and federal elections, ABC news is focused on a high school homecoming queen election,” said Houck. “We should be talking about why measures such as voter ID, are important.  Republican state legislators have reacted to the election by saying we need meaningful reforms to ensure that people can trust their ballot is secure and will be counted.”

In case you were wondering about Carroll and her daughter, both now face third degree felony counts of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, and criminal use of personally identifiable information. They will also face a first- degree misdemeanor count of conspiracy to commit these offenses.

Finally, someone is being held accountable for election fraud.

Catherine Mortensen is vice president of communications at Americans for Limited Government.

 

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