Video that appears to show Pennsylvania voters’ ballots being ripped up is fake, officials say

FBI investigating fake video that appears to show Pennsylvania voters’ ballots being ripped up

A video circulating on social media showing someone destroying mail-in ballots in Bucks County is fake, officials in Pennsylvania said.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and Yardley Borough Police Department said in a statement Thursday that they investigated the video and found that it “was fabricated in an attempt to undermine confidence in the upcoming election.”

The DA’s office is in touch with the FBI, which will “attempt to locate the source” of the video, the statement says. 

The Bucks County Board of Elections also said in a bipartisan statement that the video is fake.

“This type of behavior is meant to sow division and distrust in our election systems, and makes a mockery of the people working incredibly hard to ensure a free and fair election is carried out,” the board said in part in the statement.

The video, which has since been deleted, was posted by an anonymous X account. The account, CBS News Confirmed found, has a history of sharing Russian disinformation.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a statement on Friday saying “Russian actors manufactured and amplified” the video.

“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates,” the agencies said. “In the lead up to Election Day and in the weeks and months after, the IC expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”

During a Friday visit to Philadelphia’s election headquarters, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said it’s a move designed to sow distrust and division.

“What’s so concerning about it is that you have people deceived by videos like that,” Schmidt said. “Even something as simple as that can do great harm in undermining confidence in election results or leading people to believe that their vote won’t be counted.”

Bucks County GOP Chair Pat Poprik said the video makes a mockery of local election workers.

“County workers are doing so much to try to get this right and timely and get all the processing,” Poprik said. “This is an insult to them as if some of them would stoop to do something that egregious. I personally voted by mail because we have known that it’s trustworthy. We know that our county, it’s safe. And for someone to try to cast this doubt in the minds of voters, it’s just terrible, and I hope they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Officials in Pennsylvania and beyond have warned voters about election disinformation spreading online.

Pennsylvania is considered one of the most important battleground states in the upcoming presidential election. The state will be in the spotlight come Nov. 5 and possibly for days after, depending on how long it takes election workers to count ballots. Officials across the Philadelphia area have shared with CBS News Philadelphia how they’re securing the election and how ballots will be counted.

READ MORE: How is your vote counted in Pennsylvania? A look at election integrity in Philadelphia, surrounding counties