Video of Haitian immigrants voting is “targeted disinformation,” officials say

Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said a video showing a Haitian immigrant voting multiple times in Georgia was “targeted disinformation” and called on social media to remove the video.

The video, shared by some prominent Republicans, shows a man who claims he moved to the U.S. from Haiti six months ago and has already received citizenship. The man in the video claims he has multiple state-issued IDs and can vote for Kamala Harris in several Georgia counties.

The man in the video then says, “We invite all Haitians to come to America and bring all families.”

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To become a U.S. citizen, one must first be a lawful permanent resident for at least five years. Only US citizens are allowed to vote in presidential elections.

“Today our office became aware of a video purporting to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs claiming to have voted multiple times,” Raffensperger said. “This is false and an example of the targeted disinformation we saw in this election. It is likely foreign interference trying to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”

Raffensperger said the video was “obviously fake” and likely the production of “Russian troll farms.”

“As Americans, we cannot allow our enemies to use lies to divide us and undermine our trust in our institutions – or in each other,” the Georgia foreign minister added.

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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the lead federal agency that oversees the physical security and cybersecurity of systems and assets that support the nation's elections, initially said it was aware of the video and was investigating. On Friday, federal intelligence officials released a statement agreeing with Georgia election officials' assessment.

“The (Intelligence Community) believes that Russian influence actors recently produced a video that falsely portrayed individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in several counties in Georgia,” they said in a joint statement by officials of the Federal Secret Service. “This ruling is based on information available to the IC and previous activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. Georgia's foreign minister has already dismissed the video's claims as false.

“Russian influencers also produced a video in which they falsely accused an individual associated with the Democratic presidential nomination of accepting bribes from a U.S. entertainer. This Russian activity is part of Moscow's broader efforts to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in previous election updates from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer under Raffensperger, condemned those who shared the video.

“No responsible person would retweet this ridiculously obvious lie and disinformation,” he said. “Those who do this are acting to further the efforts of America’s enemies and undermine our nation’s security. The judgment of those who do this should be questioned in all things.”

Chris Krebs, who was appointed head of CISA by then-President Donald Trump before being later fired by Trump for contradicting his claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election, responded to the video.

“More nonsense from Russian troll farms. Expect a deluge of pure nonsense like this in the next few weeks,” Krebs said. “You are the target. They think you're stupid. They see you as incapable of developing even an ounce of critical thinking. Prove them wrong.”