Fake News: NO Fake Election Ballots in Georgia, Florida, Arizona Traced To Soros Compound

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: NO Fake Election Ballots in Georgia, Florida, Arizona Traced To Soros Compound

Were fake ballots in Georgia, Florida and Arizona traced to a "Soros Compound" in Seattle, Washington? No, that story originated on a liberal satire website mocking voter fraud conspiracy theories making the rounds online. The Soros compound story is not real.

It originated from an article published by Be Best Website on November 9, 2018 titled "Fake Election Ballots in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Traced To Soros Compound" (archived here) which opened:

And every fake news outlet called it : "A conspiracy theory." Well, conspiracy THIS :

Late last night, as a part of President Trump's Make Voting White Again initiative, large cargo trucks full of fraudulant ballots meant to be snuck into recount efforts, were siezed in a joint effort in Geogia, Florida, and Arizona. With only a brief search, authorities determined that all the trucks had come from George Soros' Compound of Liberal Socialism, located in Seattle, Washington. But the story gets even more complicated from there.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:

Fake Election Ballots in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Traced To Soros Compound

And every fake news outlet called it : "A conspiracy theory." Well, conspiracy THIS : Late last night, as a part of President Trump's Make Voting White Again initiative, large ca...

The article goes on detailing an increasingly unlikely conspiracy theory:

Not only are the vast majority of the ballots filled out and signed with distinctly Hispanic script, but C.I.A. investigators pointed to D.N.A. tests of the paper ballots that revealed genetic markers present in only one population on the globe : Honduras. Inspectors believe Soros may have had members of the refugee caravan fill out the ballots, deliver them to illegal Mexican truck drivers, and had them delivered to balloting sites during recount procedures during the dead of night, hoping to change the tide of the election. So far, this story has been suspiciously under-reported.

But the supposed picture of the Soros compound is actually a building in Germany which has been featured in several internet galleries of remarkable buildings:

Former Research Institute for Experimental Medicine in Berlin, Germany | Evil Buildings

See more 'Evil Buildings' images on Know Your Meme!

The site comes with a clear satire disclaimer at the bottom of each article:

sat·ire ~ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
If you disagree with the definition of satire or have decided it is synonymous with "comedy," you should really just move along.

The owner and main writer of the site is self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has made it his full time job to troll gullible conservatives and Trump supporters into liking and sharing his articles. He runs several other websites, including potatriotpost.us, dailyworldupdate.us and nofakenewsonline.us. Sometimes he is also known under his nickname "Busta Troll". A second man working on the sites is John Prager as revealed in this earlier story we wrote.

Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who often omit the satire disclaimer and any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past but new ones keep cropping up and he keeps knocking them down.

If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news.

We wrote about bebest.website before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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