Tucker Carlson Apologizes for Claiming 96-Year-Old Georgia Voter Was a Dead Man

Fox News host Tucker Carlson opened his show Wednesday by proclaiming that “truth really matters more than ever.” What he was about to report was “not a theory,” he said, adding: “It happened and we can prove it.”

But two days later, he opened with an apology. One of the voters he claimed had cast a ballot from the grave on Friday’s episode—claims that were amplified by the Trump campaign and by members of Congress like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)—had not actually done so after all.

The late James Blalock of Newtown County, Georgia, whom he profiled in the earlier episode, had not actually voted in the 2020 presidential election as Carlson claimed. His widow, Agnes Blalock, who votes under the name Mrs. James Blalock, had.

“We’ve got some good news tonight, and an apology. One of the people who voted in last week’s election isn’t dead,” Carlson said. “So apologies for that, and of course we’re always going to correct when we’re wrong. And we were.”

Carlson did not mention that another of the allegedly dead voters he profiled on his show, Linda Kesler, had not voted either. That vote was cast by Lynda Kesler, who—as sleuths at the fittingly named 11Alive News channel discovered—was alive and well and voting legally in the election.

“Linda Kesler of Nicholson was marked deceased in 2003 and did not vote. Lynda Kesler who has a different address, birthday, and zip who is entitled to vote—did vote,” the Jackson County Board of Elections said.

Carlson also didn’t mention that, despite his allegations to the contrary, there is absolutely no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Countless other claims of dead people voting have been debunked by major news organizations like CNN, which this week examined 50 of the more than 14,000 names on a list of allegedly dead voters being circulated by Trump supporters and found none of them had voted from the grave.

In a joint statement Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security’s Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council and Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees said the Nov. 3 election was “the most secure in American history.”

But Carlson remained defiant, claiming Friday that “a whole bunch of dead people did vote,” and that he had “proved it” because he “showed you their names”—the exact same thing he had done for Blalock and Kessler. He did not add any more evidence to support this claim. Gaetz has so far yet to comment.

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