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- Fox News opinion host Sean Hannity has pushed another baseless claim that Rep. Ilhan Omar engaged in voter fraud on Election Day.
- Omar’s tweet about same-day voter registration was taken out of context by the Fox News host, who alleged that Omar was encouraging unregistered voters to vote.
- Under Minnesota law, voters are able to take advantage of same-day voter registration.
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On Election day, Sean Hannity’s attack of Rep. Ilhan Omar appears to have backfired.
The Fox News opinion host, who, alongside network colleagues, regularly derides Omar of Minnesota posted an article titled “NOT A JOKE: Ilhan Omar Tells Residents ‘You Don’t Have to be Registered to Vote’ in Minnesota.”
Hannity was referencing Omar’s Election Day tweet, which read “you don’t have to be registered to go vote in Minnesota. We have same-day registration so you can register at the polls.”
Omar’s appeal to unregistered voters and refresher on Minnesota law on Election Day was spun to insinuate that Omar was encouraging and engaging in voter fraud.
After Sean Hannity’s initial story tweet amassed almost twenty thousand likes on Twitter, Ilhan Omar responded with a screenshot of Hannity’s tweet and stated “Where is the lie, we are proud to have same-day registration here in the great state of Minnesota. Access to the ballot box is a priority for us, I know it’s a hard concept for republican to understand.”
—Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 3, 2020
Omar's response garnered more than twice as much engagement on Twitter after Sean Hannity took her tweet out of context.
A few hours after publishing, a line was added at the end of Hannity's short article stating "This is a developing story. Check back for updates."
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Omar is currently running for reelection against Republican challenger Lacy Johnson in Minnesota's staunchly Democratic Fifth Congressional District. In August, Omar comfortably defeated Democratic primary challenger Antone Melton-Meaux.
Omar, who is also a frequent target of Trump's tirades, has seen her national profile steadily rise while championing progressive platforms and is expected to defeat her well-funded Republican challenger.
Trump has regularly questioned Omar's patriotism and at a rally last week in Minnesota, the president claimed that Biden would appoint Omar as the head of the Department of Homeland Security in order to flood Minnesota with refugees.
Recently, Omar was targeted by Project Veritas in a "coordinated disinformation effort," according to Stanford researchers, in a viral, right-wing ambush-style video which constructed a narrative that Omar and her campaign staff were engaged in ballot harvesting and voter fraud.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has regularly provided updates on the state of voting across the state on Election Day. Early in the day, Ellison tweeted that "All reports are that voting is running smoothly in MN, and we expect it to keep running safely & smoothly."
Later in the day, Ellison confirmed that there were reports of disinformation robocalls encouraging residents not to vote in Minnesota, and encouraged voters to remain in line if they arrived at their polling places before 8 p.m. CST.