Misleading posts claim on-demand ballot interference in Pennsylvania
- Published on November 5, 2024 at 20:54
- 4 min read
- By Gwen ROLEY, AFP USA
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"Voters are being told to just fill out their registrations/ballots and hand it to election workers, they will put them into the machine later," says an October 31 X post from Wall Street Apes, an account that has previously spread misinformation.
"Pennsylvania doing everything possible to interfere in this election."
The posts include a video with text claiming voter rights were "denied in Levittown, Pennsylvania," located in Bucks County.
In the footage, an exasperated crowd receives instructions about filling out and receiving election materials. Two workers seek to reassure the voters that their applications will be processed, and one of the men instructs people to specify if they want the ballot "mailed to your house or if you want to pick it up Thursday."
The same video spread across X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok with near-identical captions alleging interference, since voters were instructed to leave their paperwork with an election worker to be processed later.
In the run-up to the neck-and-neck election between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, multiple unfounded voter interference claims plagued the key swing state of Pennsylvania -- including a fake video of ballots being ripped up in Bucks County that the US intelligence community linked to a Russian disinformation campaign.
The latest posts are similarly misleading.
Pennsylvania law does not allow officials to process or count any ballots before Election Day (archived here). Bucks County spokesman James O'Malley told AFP that all mail ballots "are in the secrecy envelope and in their return envelope, and they are kept in our office, sealed until 7 am on Election Day, which is the earliest time the law allows us to start opening and processing those ballots."
The only in-person voting available in Pennsylvania before November 5 was on-demand mail ballots, which people could request in person, fill out and submit all in one visit (archived here). Voters also had the option to take such ballots home and later mail or place them in a drop box.
O'Malley told AFP the process can take about 15 minutes per person, which resulted in long wait times in Levittown, northeast of Philadelphia.
While O'Malley could not speak directly to the situation in the clip, he said that on October 29 -- the deadline to apply for mail-in ballots (archived here) -- election workers gave some voters the option to apply and then pick up their materials a few days later.
A judge extended the window for on-demand ballot applications for Bucks County voters by two days after the Trump campaign alleged voters were turned away before the end of the day October 29.
O'Malley said Bucks County cut off lines based on how long the process was estimated to take. Another social media video appears to depict officials turning people away after 1:45 pm rather than the close of business.
O'Malley said anyone who was in line at a Bucks County location before it closed was able to apply during the court-ordered extension on October 31 and November 1. He added that any voter who was not issued an on-demand ballot could still vote in person on Election Day.
Read more of AFP's coverage of 2024 election misinformation here.
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