October 24, 2024
John Kopp/PhillyVoice
A fake video shared on social media claimed to show a person tearing apart mail-in ballots in Bucks County. The DA's office and the county board of elections said the video was fabricated to undermine confidence in the Nov. 5 election. Above, a ballot drop-off box is shown in Philadelphia.
A video that is spreading widely on social media, purporting to show a person tearing up mail-in ballots cast for former President Donald Trump and other Republicans in Bucks County, is fake and an attempt to undermine the upcoming election, authorities in that county said Thursday.
The video was posted on X, formerly Twitter, and shared by multiple conservative-leaning accounts. In the background of the video, a small sign, stuck to what looks like the wall of an office cubicle, reads "Yardley Borough."
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"BREAKING: Destruction of Trump mail-in ballots caught on camera in Bucks County, PA," the post says. "This shocking footage must be investigated immediately! If true, this could be serious threat to integrity of election. Becoming clearer that this is only way Dems think they can win election!"
The DA's office and the Yardley Borough Police Department investigated the video and determined it was not legitimate.
"Our office is in contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who will be attempting to locate the source of this manufactured video," the DA's office said.
The Bucks County Board of Elections also issued a bipartisan statement condemning the video. The Board of Elections noted that the ballots depicted in the video "are clearly not authentic materials" created and distributed by the county.
“This type of behavior is meant to sow division and distrust in our election systems, and makes a mockery of the people working incredibly hard to ensure a free and fair election is carried out," Board of Elections Chair Bob Harvie, Vice Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Gene DiGirolamo said in a joint statement. "The Board of Elections unequivocally condemns this purposeful spreading of dangerous disinformation. We will not be distracted from the job the voters of Bucks County have entrusted to us.”
The fake video is among numerous examples of election disinformation that have circulated online in the run-up to the election. Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein, a Republican, responded on Wednesday to a post on X by Elon Musk, the platform's executive chairman, calling out misinformation he had spread to his more than 202 million followers. Musk had shared a post that falsely claimed a homeless services organization in Philadelphia used its address to harvest thousands of ballots in the 2020 election.
The Bucks County Board of Elections said the fake video of torn-up ballots also has been reported to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General and the Pennsylvania Department of State.
