Propaganda Flies Over the Weekend

March 24, 2026 — The short answer is, we’re not sure who posted the fake news about the Berger_page hand-eye recount, but somebody posted it from a news organization that has a financial tie with the Berger campaign.

For what it’s worth, on February 3, 2026, the Berger campaign’s financial report showed a $2,000 payment to Star News Corporation, the parent of Star News.

Since Star News is a regional low-power television enterprise, it would seem reasonable for both campaigns to buy ads there, but we could find no evidence of the Page campaign using their services.

Nor could we locate any direct contributions from the two principle officers listed on the Virginia’s corporate listing website.

All we CAN confirm is that the post was simply not true.

That said, we heard lots of complaints after it was initially posted, last Sunday. One of the key tells involves the lack of sourcing.

Note the last sentence in that original post and you’ll see where it begins, “officials say the additional recounts are part of the process….” Aside from reinforcing the false claim in the preceding paragraphs, it listed no named official.

In short, this was pure agitprop that had a demoralizing effect on some of the Page supporters who contacted me with their hair on fire.

I’ve reached out to Star News through the email address they listed on their FB page, and asked for an explanation of their false reporting, but have not heard back.

As the Page-Berger contest currently stands, the three-percent hand-eye recounts were completed this morning and it resulted in no changes.

From every hint we’ve seen, it appears they may file suit, demanding a hand-eye review of the 100-plus ballots that had no votes for either candidate in that race. This is not part of the normal SBE process for recounts, so it will require a friendly ruling from any of the judges who owe their careers to Sen Berger.

Some suggest another legal angle of attack will be a handful of voters who are willing to sign an affidavit, claiming they were given the wrong ballot.

Stay tuned!

~ jd