The Site Pushing the Big Lie About Arizona's Election Audit

The Gateway Pundit, which has a history of advancing promoting the audit in Maricopa County

- MELISSA GOLDIN AND KENDRICK MCDONALD

AS PURVEYORS OF MIS- AND DISinformation related to the 2020 elections have turned their attention to a partisan audit of ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona, one website played an outsized role promoting the story and spreading related false claims, The Gateway Pundit.

According to NewsGuard’s analysis of data from NewsWhip, a social media intelligence company, The Gateway Pundit, a Red-rated (meaning generally unreliable) conservative news and commentary website with a history of false claims, published 263 articles about the audit of Maricopa County election results between when U.S. President Joe Biden took office on January 20, 2021, and June 20, 2021, making it the most prolific online publisher on the topic.

The audit, which was authorized by the Republican-controlled state Senate, reviewed the county’s approximately 2.1 million ballots and found 182 cases of potential fraud, according to the Associated Press. The effort was widely seen as partisan and aimed at sowing doubts about the election results, echoing former U.S. President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election was marred by massive fraud. Earlier official hand count and electronic equipment audit found no evidence of fraud or vote switching in Maricopa County.

By the numbers:

According to NewsWhip, The Gateway Pundit’s articles received significant social media engagement and sparked further coverage by other outlets, including by other Red-rated sites.