On Tuesday, the largely pro-Trump Gateway Pundit went bananas, breathlessly reporting that some ballots in Florida did not have Donald Trump’s name on them, citing a Fox News reporter.
Kristinn Taylor wrote:
Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s name was left off Florida primary ballots according to reports relayed by Fox News’ Jennifer Eckhart on Twitter who said the local Fox affiliate has received “dozens of complaints.”
Eckhart wrote the irregularities are in “Jupiter County” which does not exist. She probably meant the town of Jupiter or Palm Beach County where Jupiter is located. Palm Beach County is where Trump’s Florida base Mar-a-Lago is located.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Here’s Eckhart’s tweet:
Hearing reports from friends in my home state of Florida that @realDonaldTrump is left OFF of voting ballots at various polling stations
— Jennifer Eckhart (@JenniferEckhart) March 15, 2016
Others — including Trump — also went berserk and thought they smelled a conspiracy:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/709819253977915392
https://twitter.com/samuraiEighty/status/709739243132813312
But what Taylor, Trump, Eckhart and so many others apparently forgot (or chose to ignore) is that Florida’s primary is CLOSED, which means that only registered Republicans can vote for Republicans.
Unfortunately, Taylor forgot to add that little tidbit in her report, even though there were numerous tweets explaining this.
Closed primaries. How do they work? https://t.co/I523I8WRNw
— Kemberlee Kaye (@KemberleeKaye) March 15, 2016
@realDonaldTrump @EnragedNY Its false! Fl is closed primary. People had to register as a D or R by February.
— ??Conservative Girl?? (@ConservUSA38) March 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/JammieWF/status/709837125806628864
Not only that, but a quick visit to the Florida state elections page would have explained it in detail:
Apparently, that would’ve required something called “journalism…” and “fact-checking,” which in this case took all of about a minute or less. Just saying…
Naturally, the comments at her article were pretty much what you’d expect:
So, it’s Cruz’s fault that Florida is a closed primary? Really? I think it may be time to invest in tin foil…
Trust me on this — If I thought there were any valid cases of voter fraud, I’d be on it like white on rice. But this hyperventilating over nothing-burgers is frankly getting old. Some of these sites really need to start doing a much better job of checking their information before whipping up the masses.
Related:
- White House petition demands arrest, prosecution of Donald Trump
- Chicago rioters: Groping female Trump supporters is okay; ‘They are racist white b**ches’
- Ann Coulter: Ted Cruz, Fox News ‘American traitors’ over statements about violence at Trump rally
- North Carolina sheriff won’t charge Donald Trump with inciting a riot
- Video: Twitter accused of censoring violent nature of Chicago anti-Trump protest
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