A video shared on X claims to show a Bucks County, Pennsylvania election worker ripping up ballots of voters who voted for former President Donald Trump.
🚨🇺🇸 “F**k Donald Trump again”
Mail in ballots voting for Trump appear to be destroyed by this election registrar employee in Bucks County, Pennsylvania a major battleground State.
They were always going to cheat, amazing they are making it this obvious. pic.twitter.com/N3aAjQqCOH
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) October 25, 2024
Verdict: False
The Bucks County Board of Elections and Bucks County Republican Committee issued statements refuting the claim. The alleged ballots in the video do not match actual election ballots.
Fact Check:
Social media users are claiming to show a Bucks County Board of Elections worker destroying ballots of people who appeared to have voted for Trump.
“‘F**k Donald Trump again…’ Mail in ballots voting for Trump appear to be destroyed by this election registrar employee in Bucks County, Pennsylvania a major battleground State,” one user wrote.
This claim is false. The Bucks County Board of Elections refuted the claim in an Oct. 24 statement, stating, “The envelope and materials depicted in this video are clearly not authentic materials belonging to or distributed by the Bucks County Board of Elections.”
“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. 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 Board of Elections members said in a statement.
The Bucks County Republican Committee also refuted the claim in an Oct. 24 tweet and pointed to several issues with the video. (RELATED: Did J.D. Vance Propose Mandatory Pregnancy Tests for Women Traveling Between States?)
We have seen the video circulating on the internet showing someone, allegedly in Bucks County, ripping up ballots with votes for President Donald Trump. We immediately worked with our attorneys, as well as attorneys with the Trump campaign to investigate this. The Bucks County…
— Bucks GOP (@BucksGOP) October 24, 2024
“The video is fake, with things such as the color of the envelopes being the wrong shade of green, the paper is not the same quality used by the Bucks County Board of Elections, the envelopes lack a return address, and no employee at Bucks County Board of Election meets the description of the person in the video. Furthermore, no mail-in or absentee ballots have been or will be opened and counted until election day on November 5th,” part of the statement reads.
The envelopes do lack a return address in the video. Mail-in and absentee ballots will not be processed until Election Day, according to the Montgomery County government. Pennsylvania and federal law enforcement are investigating the fake video, per the Philadelphia Inquirer.
This is not the first time election misinformation around Pennsylvania has circulated. Check Your Fact recently debunked a claim that nobody lived at an Erie, Pennsylvania address despite having 53 registered voters.