Fox News host apologises after claim that a dead person voted for Biden is resoundingly debunked

Outspoken Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been forced to apologise after he claimed that a dead person had voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

One of the many unfounded claims being aimed at president-elect Biden and the Democrats is that deceased people have somehow managed to vote in the election.

On Thursday, during a segment on Tucker Carlson Tonight, the host reported that a ballot had been cast for a man named James Blalock in Covington, Georgia.

The World War II veteran had passed away in 2006 but according to Carlson he somehow managed to vote for Biden with a mail-in ballot. He said:

No one quite embodies that story like James Blalock of Covington, Georgia. Mr. Blalock was a mailman for 33 years, until he passed away in 2006. Fourteen years later, according to state records, he was still mailing things. James Blalock cast a ballot in last week's election.

This claim from Carlson spread rapidly and was even shared by Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, which Twitter flagged as a 'disputed claim.'

However, the story has been completely and resoundingly debunked by officials in Newton County, where Blalock was registered to vote and by local Atalanta NBC news outlet, 11 Alive.

As it turns out James Blalock did vote but it was his 96-year-old widow, Agnes who votes under the name of Mrs. James E. Blalock, Jr. The Newton County Ga Government released a statement about the claims on Facebook.

In addition 11 Alive actually paid a visit to Mrs Blalock to confirm that she was the one who voted under that name. Not only did she confirm that she also said that she didn't vote for Donald Trump.

After this was brought to light, Carlson said in an apology on the Friday edition of his show.

We've got some good news tonight and an apology. One of the people who voted in last week's election isn't dead. James Blalock is still dead. We told you about him, but it was his wife who voted. She voted as Mrs. James Blalock. It's old-fashioned, and we missed it ... It was Mrs. James Blalock, so apologies for that, and of course we're always going to correct when we're wrong, and we were.

It should be noted that this was the only claim that Carlson apologised for and continued to stand by the other accusations of the deceased voting in the election.

Many of the claims about dead people voting for Biden were debunked even before Biden was declared the winner, with the New York Times reporting on November 6, that 21,000 dead people in Pennsylvania did not cast ballots.

In the lead up to the election, Republicans admitted that they were concerned about dogs and cats voting for Biden in the election. Lara Trump, wife of Eric Trump, even tried to claim that dead cats were being allowed to vote in the election and claim that was even echoed during the 'Million Maga March' in support of the president in Washington DC on Saturday.

At the time of writing, Donald Trump has refused to concede the election to Joe Biden, despite the Democrat achieving 306 electoral college votes, a margin of victory that Trump previously described as a 'landslide.'

More: Why Trump choosing not to concede if Biden wins is a disgrace to our democracy