Claim: Uncounted military absentee ballots delivered after the voting deadline would have won the 2012 presidential election for Mitt Romney.

FALSE

Example: [Collected via e-mail, November 2012]



Is it TRUE that military absentee votes for the 2012 Presidental election were held up for three months, mis-labeled and were not counted as they came in a day later than the election????? If this IS true, it cost Romney the election and there should be a RECOUNT!!! Please advise … and … thanks! Is it TRUE that military absentee votes for the 2012 Presidental election were held up for three months,and were not counted as they came in a day later than the election????? If this IS true, it cost Romney the election and there should be a RECOUNT!!! Please advise … and … thanks!



Origins: On 7 November 2012, the day after Election Day in the U.S., the Duffel Blog published an article (“Military Absentee Ballots Delivered One Day Late, Would Have Swung Election for Romney”) about hundreds of thousands of military absentee ballots being uncounted because they were delivered after the voting deadline, enough votes to have given Republican nominee Mitt Romney a victory had those ballots been counted:





Sources confirmed today that hundreds of thousands of military absentee ballots were delivered hours after the deadline for them to be counted, with preliminary counts showing that they would have overturned the vote in several states and brought a victory for Governor Mitt Romney. Sources confirmed today that hundreds of thousands of military absentee ballots were delivered hours after the deadline for them to be counted, with preliminary counts showing that they would have overturned the vote in several states and brought a victory for Governor Mitt Romney. Officials say the ballots were delivered late due to problems within the military mail system. Tracking invoices show the ballots sat in a warehouse for a month, then they were accidentally labeled as ammunition and shipped to Afghanistan. At Camp Dwyer, Marine Sergeant John Davis signed for them and was surprised at the contents. “I told Gunny we got a bunch of ballots instead of ammo,” Davis told investigators earlier today. “He told me to file a report of improper delivery and that the chain of command would take care of it. We didn’t hear anything for three weeks. While we were waiting we came under fire so we dumped a bunch of them in the Hescoes. We didn’t dig those ones back out.”





By the following day links and excerpts referencing this article were being circulated via social media, with many of those who encountered the item mistaking it for a genuine news article. However, that article was just a bit of political humor which played on stereotypes of military inefficiency. As noted in the Duffel Blog‘s “About Us” page, that web site deals strictly in military-based satire and faux news:





The Duffel Blog serves the men and women of the US Military with a daily dose of military humor, funny military pictures, and faux news. We take an interesting and funny look at military life. We focus on veterans, military stories, defense, politics (sometimes) and life on base — with a comedic twist. We are in no way, shape, or form, a real news outlet. Just about everything on this website is satirical in nature. The Duffel Blog serves the men and women of the US Military with a daily dose of military humor, funny military pictures, and faux news. We take an interesting and funny look at military life. We focus on veterans, military stories, defense, politics (sometimes) and life on base — with a comedic twist. We are in no way, shape, or form, a real news outlet. Just about everything on this website is satirical in nature. The content of this site is parody. No composition should be regarded as truthful, and no reference of an individual, company, or military unit seeks to inflict malice or emotional harm. All characters, groups, and military units appearing in these works are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or actual military units and companies is purely coincidental.



