Trump and RNC claim voter suppression based on unverified social media videos

Former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee are amplifying voter fraud claims in multiple key Pennsylvania counties a week before Election Day, Nov. 5.

"They've already started cheating," Trump told his audience in Allentown, Pa. Tuesday night.

Trump has also stoked fears on social media.

“Really bad 'stuff.' WHAT IS GOING ON IN PENNSYLVANIA??? Law Enforcement must do their job, immediately!!! WOW!!!” Trump wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The state has asked for patience as investigations into thousands of potentially fraudulent voter registration applications filed in Lancaster and possibly other counties continue.

At a press conference Friday, Lancaster County officials announced that over half of about 2,500 voter registrations received in two batches close to the deadline appeared to be fraudulent. Election officials identified suspicious applications because they had the same handwriting, signatures for voters that didn’t match what was on file or they contained inaccurate addresses or Social Security numbers. The county believes that the submissions came from a single voter registration organization.

Berks and York County officials have also said they are reviewing a large batch of voter registration and mail ballot applications.

Trump and members of his campaign have also shared multiple social media videos from Pennsylvania in recent days while alleging problems with local election administration.

In a press conference Wednesday, Secretary of Pennsylvania Al Schmidt, a Republican, urged voters to ensure they are getting information from trusted sources.

"We know there is already a lot of mis- and disinformation about Pennsylvania's elections, and it's likely to continue in the coming days and weeks ahead," Schmidt said. "Over the past 24 hours, we've seen several videos shared widely online that lacked proper context or were inaccurate, leading to false narratives... Spreading videos and other information that lack context, sharing social posts filled with half truths or even outright lies, is harmful to our representative democracy."

A viral video spreading online that appears to show mail ballots being destroyed in Bucks County has been flagged by federal law enforcement as a hoax.

More: Pennsylvania Republicans lose effort to set aside overseas ballots for screening

The eastern Pennsylvania counties at the center of Trump and the RNC's claims are among the key swing counties expected to determine which presidential candidate wins the state. Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, the most of any swing state, and polls show it tied between Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris.

In 2020, Trump relied largely on Texas v. Pennsylvania, which was drafted by lawyers with ties to his campaign, to overturn the results in his favor. The lawsuit alleged that Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin violated the United States Constitution by changing election procedures through non-legislative means. The Supreme Court refused to hear it. The Washington Post also reported that Trump pressured Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Bryan Cutler to overturn the result and use electors loyal to Trump, but Cutler declined.

"The Trump campaign seems to be setting the stage for a repeat of 2020," Penn State Behrend associate political science professor Robert Speel told USA TODAY. "If the Electoral College depends on Kamala Harris winning Pennsylvania, I think the Trump campaign is laying some groundwork to question the results from Pennsylvania."

Mail-in ballots

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley told a cheering crowdat that same Trump campaign rally in Allentown that the party was filing "a huge lawsuit" against Bucks County, Pa.

Pennsylvania does not have early voting in the way many states do. Instead, voters can apply for a mail-in ballot in-person at the elections office, receive it and then turn it in all in the same trip. The time intensive process has led to hours-long lines, especially as Trump has pushed Republicans to vote early.

Bucks County Republicans made claims online of voter intimidation, disenfranchisement caused by long lines on the last day voters were able to request mail-in ballots, which was Tuesday, Oct. 29. One social media post from Trump campaign political director James Blair said a line in one area was shut down early around 2:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, the Bucks County Common Pleas Court found that Bucks County violated the state Election Code when it turned away voters who were in line and extended the deadline to apply in person in the county until 5 p.m. Friday.

The swing county backed Biden in 2020 and Clinton in 2016 by small margins and has gone to a Democrat in every presidential election since 1992.

Neighboring Lehigh County on Tuesday asked a judge to extend the deadline there through Wednesday, because several downtown Allentown roads closed for Trump’s rally blocked access to the elections office. The judge agreed.

More: Missing secrecy sleeves: GOP ask Supreme Court to block do-overs for naked ballots in Pennsylvania

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Schmidt had told counties to allow every voter who was in line by the 5 p.m. deadline to submit a mail-in ballot application. Bucks County had said Tuesday that every voter in line by 5 p.m. would be allowed to apply for a mail ballot.

But some Bucks County voters in line at 5 p.m. were turned away, according to the lawsuit.

Pennsylvania voters can turn in mail-in ballots in person or at drop-boxes until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Voter suppression claims

The Trump campaign and RNC has also seized on the arrest Tuesday of Valerie Biancaniello, a Republican state committeewoman and RNC delegate, at a Delaware County, Pa. polling location.

Whatley shared a video of the woman in handcuffs on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying that “a supporter of President Trump’s was arrested today for encouraging people to stay in the early voting line and cast their ballots freely in Pennsylvania.”

“This is voter suppression from the left. Don’t let them turn you away,” he wrote.

A Delaware County spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

Jim Allen, the Director of Elections in Delaware County, told local affiliate NBC10 that other people in line were complaining about her behavior, including that she was telling people who to vote for.

“Park Police approached the person, asked them to follow the rules or leave and they said they weren’t going to leave and they weren’t going to stop so they were charged with disorderly conduct,” Allen said.

Biancaniello said on social media that she was briefly detained and was told she will be issued a disorderly conduct citation.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump boosts unproven social media election fraud allegations