Claim:
A video authentically reports a Pennsylvania woman attempted to drop off four mail-in ballots at a drop box for the 2024 U.S. elections.
Rating:
Context
Pennsylvania’s WBRE-TV originally broadcast the report in May 2022 during the state’s primary election, meaning it had nothing to do with the 2024 elections. The same clip said an election official identified and removed the four ballots to a secure location. Further, in 2024 the a new headline was superimposed over the original clip, lending the false impression the video was recent.
A rumor circulating on X in September 2024 stirred up baseless fears of massive voter fraud ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections. In this case, the story involved the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
For example, on Sept. 19, the user @MAGAResource posted a video with the caption, “Pennsylvania election officials are already catching cheaters dropping off multiple early ballots at dropbox.” The beginning of the clip displayed a superimposed screenshot of a website headline reading, “Luzerne County drops use of drop boxes ahead of election.” Luzerne County is located in Pennsylvania.
The 44-second clip showed a local news report about a woman who attempted to drop off four mail-in ballots at a drop box location equipped with video surveillance, also in Luzerne County. The state of Pennsylvania requires a special form to drop off a ballot for someone who has a disability. The woman did not provide any such forms, attempted to deposit the ballots anyway and then left. The video ended by reporting that an election official identified the four ballots and removed them to a secure location.
We have rated the rumor that the video showed “Pennsylvania election officials are already catching cheaters dropping off multiple early ballots at dropbox” as miscaptioned — a rating that confirms the original video’s genuine and undoctored nature while calling out @MAGAResource’s false caption. The popular @TrumpDailyPosts X account reposted (archived) the same post.
The grain of truth underlying this rumor is that WBRE-TV — an NBC affiliate station located in the Luzerne County city of Wilkes-Barre — originally posted a longer version of the same video report on May 12, 2022, just days ahead of the state’s 2022 primary election.
The headline superimposed over the beginning of the manipulated version of the video matched that of a Sept. 18, 2024, article published by WNEP-TV — an ABC affiliate based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The WNEP story reported Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo said ballot drop boxes would not be available for the 2024 elections, citing “staffing shortages,” “security concerns” and “financial risk.”
Crocamo also said she believed video surveillance would not stand as a “foolproof means of ensuring compliance with voting laws.”
In other words, an online user — possibly @BehizyTweets (archived) or someone else — superimposed the September 2024 headline over the 2022 video. The @MAGAResource user later deleted their post after receiving a community note informing users of the video’s original air date in 2022.
More Shares of the Same Video
Other users shared the same manipulated video, but at least reported some accurate information in the text of their posts, which were still, in the end, misleading.
For example, on Sept. 19, X user Kyle Becker created a post (archived) for his nearly 600,000 followers, sharing the doctored video with the superimposed 2024 headline. Becker, who identified himself in his bio as an independent journalist, failed to mention that the video was two years old, and he did not include any links, sources or other data to help better inform people reading his post. Instead, he began his post with the words “JUST IN,” potentially giving his followers the false impression that the video was shot recently. The text of his post focused on the news about Luzerne County announcing it would not deploy drop boxes for the 2024 elections. The post received more than 18.5 million views.
The political blog Not the Bee — self-described as a humor-based news, opinion and entertainment website from the creators of the satirical website The Babylon Bee — published a brief article based on Becker’s post. The story’s headline read, “Pennsylvania county bans drop boxes after woman caught with multiple ballots.” This headline was technically correct — in that 2024 occurred after 2022 — however, the article failed to inform readers that the WBRE-TV video report dated from May 2022.
Under Not the Bee’s Facebook and X posts promoted its article, commenters may have wrongly believed WBRE-TV recently broadcast the video report. Those users also possibly failed to finish the 44-second video to learn at the end that an election official reportedly identified and removed the woman’s four ballots to a secure location.
The Associated Press’ Analysis of US Voter Fraud
Regarding baseless fears of massive voter fraud, on Dec. 14, 2021, The Associated Press published its review of purported voter fraud in six battleground states from the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The review found fewer than 475 cases across those states:
An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump has found fewer than 475 — a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election.
Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and their 79 Electoral College votes by a combined 311,257 votes out of 25.5 million ballots cast for president. The disputed ballots represent just 0.15% of his victory margin in those states.
The cases could not throw the outcome into question even if all those votes were for Biden, which they were not, and even if those ballots were actually counted, which in most cases they were not.
The story added that “virtually every case was based on an individual acting alone to cast additional ballots.”
Further, the Pennsylvania government’s website clearly states, “Mail ballot fraud has been proven to be exceptionally rare. Claims of systemic voter fraud are devoid of any supporting evidence and have consistently been rejected by judges, government agencies and election experts across the political spectrum.”
Sources
Accessible Voting | Voting & Election Information | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/vote/voter-support/accessible-voting.html.
Annual Mail Ballot List | Voting & Election Information | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/vote/voter-support/mail-in-and-absentee-ballot/annual-mail-ballot-list.html.
“Ballot Drop Box Issues in Luzerne County.” YouTube, PAHomepage.com, 12 May 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EKirmO8ZbQ.
Cassidy, Christina A. “Far Too Little Vote Fraud to Tip Election to Trump, AP Finds.” The Associated Press, 14 Dec. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-pennsylvania-arizona-nevada-wisconsin-de171efb89404a8bdefb6fb83a0b4ad1.
Fact-Checking PA-Related Election Claims | Voting & Election Information | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/vote/elections/fact-checking-pa-related-election-claims.html.
Huangpu, Kate. “Pa. Election Day 2022: A complete guide to the May 17 primary, including how to vote, find your polling place, understand mail-in ballots, and more.” Spotlight PA, 29 Apr. 2022, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2022/04/pa-election-day-2022-pennsylvania-primary-governor-senate-voting-guide/.
Iyer, Adithya. “Luzerne County Drops Use of Drop Boxes Ahead of Election.” WNEP, 18 Sept. 2024, https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/luzerne-county/luzerne-county-election-2024-mail-in-ballot-drop-boxes/523-d17ce3f8-2dc9-4888-8a3e-057e928ea20b.
Learn-Andes, Jennifer. “Luzerne County Election Director Resigns.” Sunday Dispatch, 21 July 2022, https://www.psdispatch.com/news/81265/luzerne-county-election-director-resigns.
Scolforo, Mark. “Pennsylvania Man Accused of Voting in 2 States Faces Federal Charges.” The Associated Press, 12 Aug. 2024,
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Publish date : 2024-09-20 13:00:00
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