'This video is fake': Pennsylvania officials say viral video of destroyed ballots for Trump a hoax

The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said a viral video spreading online that appears to show mail ballots being destroyed in the Philadelphia suburb is a hoax.

"The Bucks County Board of Elections is aware of a video circulated this afternoon on social media purporting to show Bucks County mail-in ballots being opened and destroyed. This video is fake," county officials said in an online statement posted Thursday.

"The envelope and materials depicted in this video are clearly not authentic materials belonging to or distributed by the Bucks County Board of Elections."

Bucks County district attorney spokesperson Manuel Gamiz Jr. confirmed in an email late Thursday afternoon that local and federal law enforcement are investigating the source of the apparent hoax. County spokesman James O'Malley said one giveaway that the video is fake is that the envelopes shown in the video appear to be glossy, a feature that official ballot envelopes don't 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 mail ballot envelopes on a table as an unidentified man proceeds to open them and tear up ballots with votes for former President Donald Trump and returning ballots for Vice President Kamala Harris.

"F--- Donald Trump," the man in the video said repeatedly as he rips up the ballots.

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

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"The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and the Yardley Borough Police Department are aware of a video circulating on social media appearing to show the destruction of election ballots. Our investigation has concluded that this video was fabricated in an attempt to undermine confidence in the upcoming election," Gamiz said.

Bucks County commissioner and Board of Elections Chair Bob Harvie said the elections board "unequivocally condemns this purposeful spreading of dangerous disinformation."

“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," Harvie said.

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

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

"This obviously fraudulent and, frankly, racist video is little more than a despicable attempt by supporters of Donald Trump to cast doubt on our vote by mail system and, ultimately, the outcome of the Presidential Election," said state Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks) chairman of the county Democratic committee.

"Fortunately, we believe the public will see this for what it is, and the election process will move forward without incident.”

The Bucks County Republican Committee also quickly spoke out on the video in a post to the group's Facebook page, saying the video is "aimed at scaring voters and dissuading (voters) from using mail-in ballots or on-demand voting that uses the same mail-in ballot process."

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

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Video of ballots being destroyed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a hoax