Extract from ABC News
In the days after the election, this is the theory that spread through the MAGA media ecosystem that Steve Bannon was part of.
It became the 'big lie' underpinning a widespread push to deny the election result.
The Hammer and Scorecard conspiracy debunked
The Hammer and Scorecard lie was one that fit in well with the reality of the 'blue shift'.
None of it was true. Not only did Democrats not hack the election, there's no evidence that the Hammer and Scorecard exist.
Things have not turned out well for anyone involved in pushing the Hammer and Scorecard theory.
Steve Bannon is in jail for contempt of congress, awaiting release five days before the election. Bannon's Chinese business partner is in jail for fraud. His Chinese news network, which was part of that fraud, is gone.
But that's the case with all the theories used to deny the 2020 election result. None of the theories about election fraud have been proven true, but that doesn't really matter. Millions believe it.
The danger of this misinformation was evident when thousands of Donald Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021, looking to stop what they saw as fraudulent certification of the election result.
Almost 70 per cent of Republicans now say they believe the election was stolen.
Many of Donald Trump's supporters have spent the last four years believing this, and it's played a key part in his bid to win back the White House.
Making the vote 'Too big to rig'
Denial of the 2020 election result has factored heavily into Donald Trump's 2024 campaign for the presidency.
In a frequent cry at his political rallies he implores his supporters to make the result this November "too big to rig" — the implication being that the slim 2020 loss in key swing states was the result of fraud.
It shows the tightrope Donald Trump must walk to get his MAGA supporters to cast a ballot.
People who believe the 2020 vote was "rigged" need a reason to bother trying again.
Donald Trump has confused the matter in recent months, angering some supporters by saying in interviews and at rallies that he "lost by a whisker".
But in his September debate with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris he walked the comment back, claiming it was said with sarcasm.
And in a rally this month in the swing state of Michigan, Trump was back to repeating false claims that he had won the 2020 election.
"We have to be too big to rig, you know that … turn out and vote in record numbers.
"You know, last time, last election, we did great in 2016, a lot of people don't know, we did much better in 2020.
"We won. We won. We did win. It was a rigged election. It was a rigged election."
"You have to tell Kamala Harris, that's why I'm doing it again. If I thought I'd lost, I wouldn't be doing this again."
Will Donald Trump accept a close result this time?
In 2022 retired judge J. Michael Luttig gave evidence to US Congress about the events of January 6.
He told the committee that Donald Trump and his allies are a clear and present danger to American democracy.
"That's not because of what happened on January 6th," Judge Luttig said.
"It's because to this very day, the former president, his allies and supporters pledged that in the presidential election of 2024, if the former president … were to lose that election, that they would attempt to overturn [it] in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election but succeed in 2024 where they failed in 2020."
Judge Luttig said the former president and his allies were executing their blueprint for 2024 "in open and plain view of the American public".
That blueprint draws heavily on the failed attempt to deny the 2020 election result.
But while the denial of that election was orchestrated on the fly, Donald Trump's response to a close loss this time will benefit from four years of planning from his team and his supporters.
Many who believe the 2020 election was "stolen" by Trump's opponents have themselves become involved in the political system, seeking local roles that involve certifying the election result.
Given the rhetoric of his campaign, it's unlikely a close result will see Donald Trump concede on election night.
And if Donald Trump wins the election fair and square, we'll hear a lot more about the stolen 2020 election, not less, as he uses the office of the president to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.
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