Pennsylvania officials say viral video of destroyed Trump ballots is a hoax

The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said a viral video circulating online apparently showing the destruction of mail-in ballots in a Philadelphia suburb is a hoax.

“The Bucks County Board of Elections is aware that a video purportedly showing Bucks County mail-in ballots being opened and destroyed was circulated on social media this afternoon. This video is fake,” district officials said in an online statement posted Thursday.

“The envelope and materials depicted in this video are clearly not authentic materials owned or distributed by the Bucks County Board of Elections.”

Bucks County District Attorney spokesman Manuel Gamiz Jr. confirmed in an email late Thursday afternoon that local and federal law enforcement agencies are investigating the source of the apparent hoax. County spokesman James O'Malley said one indication that the video is fake is that the envelopes shown in the video appear to be shiny, a characteristic that official ballot envelopes do not have.

The non-glossy secrecy envelopes on official ballots can be seen in this video from the county posted to YouTube in August.

The video shows a stack of sealed envelopes containing ballots on a table as an unidentified man opens them and tears up ballots containing votes for former President Donald Trump and returned ballots for Vice President Kamala Harris.

“F— Donald Trump,” the man in the video said repeatedly as he tore up the ballots.

According to the county's statement, the FBI, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and the Pennsylvania Department of State were also contacted about the video.

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“The Bucks County Prosecutor's Office and the Yardley Borough Police Department are aware of a video circulating on social media that appears to show ballots being destroyed. Our investigation has revealed that this video was faked in an attempt to undermine confidence in the upcoming election,” Gamiz said.

Bucks County Commissioner and Board of Elections Chairman Bob Harvie said the Board of Elections “unequivocally condemns this targeted spread of dangerous disinformation.”

“This type of behavior is designed to sow division and distrust in our electoral systems and ridicule the people who work incredibly hard to deliver free and fair elections,” Harvie said.

A post on X, formerly Twitter, sharing the two-minute video had already had more than 342,000 shares as of 2:40 p.m. on Thursday.

The Bucks County Democratic Committee also released a statement Thursday evening denouncing the video.

“This blatantly fraudulent and, frankly, racist video is little more than a despicable attempt by supporters of Donald Trump to challenge our mail-in voting system and ultimately the outcome of the presidential election,” said State Senator Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks) Chairman of the county Democratic Committee.

“Fortunately, we believe the public will recognize this for what it is and that the electoral process will proceed without incident.”

Reporter Chris Ullery can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times: Video of Bucks County, Pennsylvania ballot destruction a hoax