A steady stream of false and misleading information is circulating online around the 2024 election. Two videos circulating on social media on Wednesday are falsely claiming they show wrongdoing around voting in Pennsylvania, a key swing state. Officials provided details on what is actually shown in the videos.
Here’s a look at the facts.
Video shows routine election operations in a Pennsylvania county, not voter fraud
CLAIM: A video of a man dropping off a large number of ballots at the courthouse in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, shows evidence of voter fraud.
THE FACTS: That’s false. Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure told The Associated Press that the video, which spread widely on X with several users actively trying to identify the man, showed nothing but routine election operations.
The man in the video is the local postmaster and was doing his job, dropping off ballots as instructed after collection, McClure said in an email. He noted that the misinformation led to unwarranted harassment against the postmaster.
“This is a postal service servant doing his public duty,” he said. ”Folks should find out all the facts before they go sharing things online.”
The courthouse is surrounded by security cameras and other safeguards to ensure the election runs smoothly, McClure said.
The county executive replied to the original video on X, which was shared more than 14,000 times. A Community Note was placed on the post explaining the misrepresentation.
—- Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed this report.
Video shows a group seeking assistance for elderly and disabled members, not cutting line to vote in Pennsylvania
CLAIM: A video shows busloads of noncitizens skipping the line to vote at a satellite election office in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
THE FACTS: False. The video shows a group walking past a line at a satellite voting location in Allegheny County to seek assistance for elderly and disabled voters as they applied for mail-in ballots Saturday, Oct. 26, election officials said in a statement.
Officials noted that the deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania was Oct. 21, so anyone requesting a mail-in ballot after the deadline would have only received one if they were already registered to vote. Only U.S. citizens can register to vote in Pennsylvania.
In the video, a group of people walk up to the South Park Ice Rink office in the borough of Bethel Park and stop to speak with a woman outside the building.
“ILLEGAL ‘VOTERS’ CUTTING THE LINE AGAIN!” reads an X post that shared the video. “Look at this BS in Pennsylvania… swing states… it figures. BUSSES of non-english speaking ‘citizens’ are guided past Americans who had been waiting in line for hours to cast their early votes.”
As of Wednesday, the erroneous post had been liked and shared approximately 122,700 times.
The county’s statement explained that the group “came to apply for mail in ballots and needed the assistance of translators.”
The video shows a “brief conversation between voters, their translators, and a county employee.”
Elderly and disabled people from the group were told by the county employee to sit while they waited for their turn — an accommodation offered to any elderly and disabled voter at Allegheny County satellite offices — and able-bodied voters went to the back of the line, according to the statement. Translators helped those who needed them.
—- Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin contributed this report.
