MILWAUKEE — The election is over but the fact-checking continues. Politifact Wisconsin looks at a claim made by the president's son about voter turnout in Wisconsin and a congressional candidate's claim about COVID-19.
The unofficial results show Joe Biden as the projected winner in Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes. How he won has led to a lot of misinformation.
"This included a claim from Donald Trump Jr., the president's son," said Eric Litke with PolitiFact Wisconsin. "He shared a tweet claiming the turnout in Wisconsin jumped from 67% in 2016 to 89% this year."
Wisconsin did see a record number of voters in 2020 but PolitiFact Wisconsin says Donald Trump Jr's numbers are off.
In 2016 - turnout was 67% of ALL eligible voters in Wisconsin. But the president's son claimed it jumped to 89% in 2020. He missed the mark because that is the estimated turnout of registered voters only.
"So when you use the same basis for both years, you see that turnout rose from 67% in 2016 to about 72% this year," said Litke.
PolitiFact Wisconsin rated this claim Pants on Fire.
The rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Wisconsin was a big campaign issue. Democratic Congressional candidate Roger Polack made this claim days before the election.
"That more people had died of COVID-19 in Kenosha County the day before, than in all of Germany," said Litke.
PolitiFact Wisconsin says Polack made that claimed in a tweet on Oct. 27 - that he later deleted.
The entire state of Wisconsin did have more deaths that day but not in Kenosha County as Polack claimed.
"Kenosha County had two deaths that day," said Litke. "Germany reported 42."
PolitiFact Wisconsin rated this claim False.