A look at what didn’t happen in the Alabama Senate race

FILE: Roy Moore (Photo: Judge Roy Moore for U.S. Senate/Facebook)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — As Alabama’s high-profile Senate race heads toward a Tuesday vote, supporters and opponents of GOP candidate Roy Moore are bending the truth — or shattering it to pieces — in the campaign’s final stretch.

One website falsely proclaimed that one of the women who accused Moore of sexual misconduct had recanted. Another erroneously reported that a Moore accuser “forged” his yearbook inscription to her. On the other side, Moore’s detractors took to social media to assert, erroneously, that Moore had written in a 2011 textbook that women shouldn’t hold elected office.

The Associated Press checked these out; here are the real facts:

NOT REAL: BREAKING: Roy Moore’s Lying Accuser Admits He Didn’t Ever Touch Her

THE FACTS: None of the women who accused the Alabama Republican Senate candidate of sexual misconduct, including two women who said Moore molested them, have backed off their initial claims. This fake headline is from a website, Reagan Was Right, which promotes hoaxes and satire. The woman featured in a photograph accompanying the story shows a British reality TV star, not any of the eight women who have accused Moore of sexual misconduct.

NOT REAL: Claims that Roy Moore authored a textbook in 2011 that says women shouldn’t run for office

THE FACTS: Moore is in fact a co-author of a “textbook” which serves as a study guide for a series of Bible-based video and audio lectures on U.S. law and public policy. The course packaging also identifies him as a “featured speaker.” Despite claims spread on the web this week, however, Moore did not author the specific section or deliver the lecture that argues that women should not hold elected office. That talk was given by William Einwechter, an elder at Immanuel Free Reformed Church in Pennsylvania. Moore’s office says he does not believe that women are unqualified for public office.

NOT REAL: BREAKING: ROY MOORE ACCUSER ADMITS SHE FORGED PART OF YEARBOOK INSCRIPTION!!!

THE FACTS: Moore supporters celebrated misleading news that Beverly Nelson, one of his accusers, “forged” a 1977 yearbook inscription that was considered key evidence against the Alabama Republican. The inscription reads, “To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say, ‘Merry Christmas.”’ It is followed by the signature “Roy Moore D.A.” and the notation “12-22-77 Olde Hickory House.” Nelson’s attorney, Gloria Allred, said Friday that Nelson had added the date and restaurant name to the inscription. However, Allred also said that a handwriting expert found Moore’s signature in the yearbook to be authentic.

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Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam contributed to this report.