Why is "Trump cheated" trending on X? Mail-in ballot challenge in Pennsylvania explained 

Amid the results of the 2024 Presidential elections, speculations of Donald Trump allegedly cheating have been circulating across the internet. A couple of screenshots of an e-mail showing that an absentee ballot application was challenged.

NPR reported that several voters received last-minute challenges in their mail ballot applications. Many netizens believed sharing numerous images on social media would prevent them from being completely deleted. One of the tweets shared by a user (@Ana4evalove) had a caption that read:

"REPOST THESE IMAGES. KEEP SHARING. KEEP REPOSTING. TRUMP CHEATED."

The outlet further confirmed that officials from about 14 counties had received over 4,000 challenges by Friday, November 1, 2024. Heckel, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State, further corroborated the same.

These last-minute challenges sparked the "Trump cheated" trend across social media.

A user wrote on X:

"Raise your hand if you think #TrumpCheated 👁👄👁."

"Me liking every single tweet that says #TrumpCheated," added a tweet.

"Trump f*cking cheated. It’s blatant and the og images got taken down," wrote another user.

Many other users used the hashtag shortly after the results were announced, and the screenshots went viral. A user tweeted:

"KEEP POSTING, KEEP PROTESTING, THEY NEED TO HEAR US AND RECOUNT EVERY SINGLE MISSING BALLOT AND BRIBED VOTE‼️‼️ #TrumpCheated."

"Keep this moving, every one helps, #TrumpCheated," commented a netizen.

While many claimed that the former president allegedly cheated in the elections, several supporters defended him on social media. They said that only one such application wasn't enough to prove that he cheated. They further claimed that it wasn't even clear whether or not the application in the viral screenshot was finally rejected or not.

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Donald Trump raised questions about the voting process in the Philadelphia

Amid the Presidential election chaos, the Republican candidate came up with an allegation against the voting process in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to him, "mass cheating" had allegedly happened in the city. The claims were, however, dismissed by the officials there.

When the Democratic Party seemed to be leading in a lot of places within the city, the former President alleged "mass cheating." He took to his Truth Social platform and wrote:

"There is a lot of talk about massive cheating. Law enforcement coming!!"

As per The Economic Times, Philadelphia officials denied the claims and described the Republican candidate's statement to be "yet another example of disinformation." District Attorney Larry Krasner said:

"There is no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation."

City Commissioner Seth Bluestein, who is a Republican himself, also denied the allegations made. In a statement, he said:

"There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure."

Additionally, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro told CNN that the claims were baseless in nature. Shapiro, who previously held the position of state attorney general, mentioned his successful defense against 43 legal challenges to the 2020 vote count brought by Trump and his supporters.

As per reports by The Economic Times, the Republican politician was asked about his response in case he lost this year, to which he said:

"If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I would be the first one to acknowledge it. So far I think it’s been fair."

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The Associated Press called the race when Donald Trump secured 295 electoral votes, making him the 47th president of the United States.