I monitor Twitter fairly closely, both for replies to our accounts and for news and story ideas. Most of the mentions and responses we get on Twitter are either progressives agreeing with us, or the occasional right-winger wanting to pick a fight. (And even more occasionally, actual engagement from elected officials and persons with a different viewpoint. Always like those.)
Imagine my bemusement, then, when the following tweet hit our Mentions list (not going to list the source, just the text):
Kentucky Democrats cheated. 175K non-citizens voted for the Democrat for Governor. Look! Illegals can get drivers licenses and use them to vote. Democrats won a lawsuit allowing them to do so.
Obviously, this person got the “inactive voter list” story mixed up with the Daniel Cameron ad. The idea that 175,000 undocumented immigrants came into Kentucky to vote on election day is so crazy as to not need a response.
But then, I wondered how wide-spread this sentiment was. So, I did a quick Twitter search for “Kentucky illegals.” And whoa, the crazy flowed out of Twitter like the Ohio at flood stage!
Some excerpts (again, only the text):
HEY VIRGINA AND KENTUCKY YOU BEST CHECK YOUR VOTER ROLES!!!!! ILLEGALS ARE VOTING IN YOUR STATES ENOUGH TO CHANGE AN ELECTION!!!!!!!!!
LIBERALS NOW MOVE ILLEGALS TO DIFFERENT STATES LIKE VIRGINA AND KENTUCKY TO WIN THE ELECTIONS THEY NEED! THIS NEEDS TO STOP NOW!!!!
Kentucky had 150,000 illegals registered to vote for governor! Kentucky stole the election from Bevin! You want proof? It’s everywhere look it up
175K ppl and illegals were put back on KY rolls of those who moved out of state. Then D’rats skim the DMV rolls from over the USA & send those names to a state, in this case Kentucky. Get thee to you local election office to oversee Soros vote counters
BREAKING NEWS:
The Kentucky governor race was stolen. Election fraud proven. 179,000 ineligible voters that had been removed from the rolls, were mysteriously reinstated and they have the communication to prove it. Illegals and folks not even living in Kentucky are on the rolls.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I used the Botometer to check the first twelve or so tweets that came up in my search, and about half of them were likely or definitely bots. Bad enough that we’ve got incoming crazy – now it’s AUTOMATED crazy.
I also did a cursory search of Facebook, and the crazy is big over there too.
DEMAND RECOUNT IN KENTUCKY! NO WAY BEVIN LOST! TOO MANY CORPSES AND ILLEGALS VOTED!
It is apparent now boxes of straight ticket straight party votes are unaccounted for as of this time. Many provisional ballots are also in question. Thousands of votes were tallied that were illegal. Voting machines in predominately heavy democrat poll places were not functioning properly. I have read accusations of early votes just tossed away that were Republican. Many say they werent allowed to vote. Then there is the overall #’s, way way too far off to make sense. As in hit or miss, in a computer system; mind you.
You can find more of the same all over Facebook.
Some responses to the crazy
Obviously, this conspiracy theory of the far right is so out there that it hardly needs refuting. But, just in case your crazy uncle brings it up at Thanksgiving, here are some things to keep in mind:
- You can’t register to vote in Kentucky without a Social Security number.
- You can’t register to vote in Kentucky at the DMV.
- You have to be actually on the voter rolls to vote. You can’t just show up with a driver’s license and vote.
- If all these people were brought in by the Dems to vote for Beshear, why didn’t they also vote for all the other Dems on the ballot?
- Why didn’t poll workers notice and report large numbers of Hispanics showing up to vote?
- The state Board of Elections had tried to reach those 175,000 persons on the inactive voter list, but was unable to do so. How did the Dems reach them, then?
- And did it ever occur to you that if Republicans won every other race, that the problem might just be Bevin himself?
I could mention that most on the right don’t seem concerned about ACTUAL voter suppression or ACTUAL election stealing (e.g., Georgia), but can sure bring the crazy when one of their own loses.
Let me close, though, by noting that none of the elected Republicans in Frankfort are having it. (I may write a Thank-You note to them.) They have been pretty plain-spoken about Governor Bevin either bringing the proof or conceding. None of them are giving the crazy any credence, and for that we should be thankful.
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