Name: How the disproved 'Sharpiegate' conspiracy theory made Arizona a national media punchline
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How the disproved 'Sharpiegate' conspiracy theory made Arizona a national media punchline

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Arizona Republic It was all going so well.Arizona has been a focus of the 2020 presidential election between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and for once the state was shown in a positive light nationally, an exemplary example of handing early voting responsibly. Arizona was featured on every election broadcast, story.&nbsp; turned into a big story. All good.Of course it couldn’t last. Of course a dopey conspiracy theory would worm its way into the conversation. And of course it would have a stupid name so the country could have a handy shorthand&nbsp;to use to make fun of us.Make no mistake — typically something as ridiculous as “Sharpiegate” wouldn’t be worth mentioning. But the spread of the baseless&nbsp;rumor has become both and a national one — although the coverage exists only to debunk it.If you haven’t heard, ,&nbsp;but the felt-tip pen's&nbsp;ink would then bleed through the ballot, making it unreadable by a machine and thus keeping your vote from counting. Evidently this applies only to Republicans, for some reason. There’s only one problem with the theory.It isn’t true.ELECTION OFFICIALS:&nbsp;CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, during an update on vote counting in Arizona Wednesday, asked Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs about it.She laughed out loud.“There is no concern about ballots being counted because of the pen that was used to make the ballots,” Hobbs said. “All of those ballots are being counted. And even if the machines can’t read them for some reason, the marker bled through to the other side, we have ways to count them.“They’re going to be counted. There’s absolutely no merit to saying this was some conspiracy to invalidate Republican ballots. There just, there is no there, there at all.”The incorrect&nbsp;theory also made the New York Times in a story published Wednesday with the headline, “.”That pretty much sums up the spirit of the story.“Arizona officials said that there was no truth to that claim and that votes recorded with felt-tip pens would still be counted,” technology columnist Kevin Roose writes.Roose also notes that . Sure enough, Trump retweeted conservative &nbsp;— and earned a Twitter warning that it was disputed and may be misleading.Kari Lake, a news anchor for Fox 10 in Phoenix whotwice, at their polling place.“When I flipped my ballot I noticed lots of ink bled thru so I flagged a worker — she said no worries, it was OK.”Probably because … it was? ARIZONA GOES BLUE:&nbsp;afternoon assuring voters their ballots were safely counted.“Sharpies do not invalidate ballots,” the statement says. “We did extensive testing on multiple different types of ink with our new vote tabulation equipment. Sharpies are recommended by the manufacturer because they provide the fastest-drying ink. The offset columns on the ballots ensure that any bleed-through will not impact your vote.”Imagine that. So here we are, stepping back in it.Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.Reach Goodykoontz at . Facebook: . Twitter: .. What are you waiting for?

Arizona Republic It was all going so well.Arizona has been a focus of the 2020 presidential election between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and for once the state was shown in a positive light nationally, an exemplary example of handing early voting responsibly. Arizona was featured on every election broadcast, story.&nbsp; turned into a big story. All good.Of course it couldn’t last. Of course a dopey conspiracy theory would worm its way into the conversation. And of course it would have a stupid name so the country could have a handy shorthand&nbsp;to use to make fun of us.Make no...

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Arizona Republic and @azcentral media critic for a living - how meta - bring up four kids for fun. Or maybe vice versa.

Bill Goodykoontz

desmoinesregister.com

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How the disproved 'Sharpiegate' conspiracy theory made Arizona a national media punchline

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