Pennsylvania officials dismiss viral claims of illegal voters

Officials in the US state of Pennsylvania have denied claims that “illegal voters” can request ballots and vote at an election office in Allegheny County.

Officials have issued a statement following posts

The video shows a line outside a satellite election office in Allegheny County — the state's second-largest county — and a second, smaller group that appears to walk past the long line and talk to someone near the voting center entrance.

Allegheny County officials told the BBC that the group came to request mail-in ballots, and officials reiterated that only U.S. citizens could register to vote.

BBC Verify understands that some people in the group seen in the viral video are US citizens of Nepalese and Bhutanese descent. The BBC could not independently verify this.

Viral posts on Some also claimed that they were wearing stickers supporting the Harris-Walz campaign, which are not visible in the video.

The video was viewed by millions on X and shared by right-wing influencers, some of whom promote conspiracy theories.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of X, responded to a post with the video: “Is this real?”

It is illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, and studies show such cases are extremely rare.

Others online speculated that the group not only voted illegally, but also skipped the line to do so. However, district officials told BBC Verify that some members of the group “required the assistance of translators.”

Officials say the moments captured in the viral video were a brief conversation between voters, their translators and a county employee that was spread online by right-wing influencers.

“County staff gave direction that elderly and disabled people would be allowed to sit while they waited for their applications to be processed,” officials said, adding that this would be the case for any elderly or disabled voter at any election office.

Referring to the viral video, they said: “The able-bodied voters returned to the back row, elderly and disabled voters were allowed to sit and wait their turn, and those who needed the help of a translator were able to use theirs. “ Translator to help you through the process.”

A separate video shared alongside this one shows a man who claims to have been at the polling location at the time and witnessed the incident. We were unable to verify this video.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said: “Distributing videos and other information without context and sharing social media posts containing half-truths and even outright lies is harmful to our representative democracy.”

Pennsylvania is a key swing state and is at the center of claims from right-wing influencers questioning the integrity of the vote.