Georgia Secretary of State debunks viral Haitian immigrant voting video, asks Musk to take it down
This story was updated on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at 7:01 p.m.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says a widely circulating online video that questions the validity of Georgia’s voting security measures is “targeted disinformation” likely created by Russian troll farms.
The clip shows a man who claims to be a Haitian immigrant who has voted multiple times using fake Georgia IDs. The video has garnered over half a million views, causing outrage and confusion among voters both in and outside of the state.
“This is insane!! Imagine how many others are doing this!!,” said one X user. “Can someone from [Gwinnett] county and Fulton county in Georgia please verify this?!”
On Thursday night, Raffensperger addressed the controversy, calling the video false.
“It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the 2024 Presidential election,” the statement reads.
“We are working to combat this and identify the origin of it with our state and federal partners. [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] is currently investigating,” Raffensperger continued.
“In the meantime, we ask Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms to take this down. This is obviously fake and part of a disinformation effort. Likely it is a production of Russian troll farms.”
Conservative WSB radio host Erick Erickson also took to X to comment on the video, claiming the video is false.
“I suspect many of those circulating it do not care that it is fake,” he noted.
The accusation of voter fraud comes at a time when Georgia has been placed in the national spotlight regarding the security of its elections, specifically after the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, when former President Donald Trump falsely accused Raffensperger of allowing the outcome to be “rigged.” Multiple audits and recounts proved otherwise, and Trump was indicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
In mid-October, shortly after the launch of early voting, a conspiracy began circulating online stating that a Dominion voting machine in Whitfield County flipped the vote to a candidate not originally marked by the voter.
“After several attempts of trying to change it to reflect their correct choices, they had to void the ballot and use a different machine,” said Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in an X post. “Please double check your printed ballot before you turn it in to make sure it has marked the candidates you voted for!!!”
It’s a critical election year, and Georgia is at the center of it. Stay in the know with WABE’s 2024 Georgia Elections page, where you can find WABE’s latest election news and podcast episodes, important dates, voting locations, candidate info, results and more.
The county’s Board of Elections and Registrars issued a press release soon after the accusation, noting the case involved one voter out of 6,000 ballots that had been cast at the time, and that the voter noticed when reviewing their printed ballot that it didn’t reflect their choice. A poll worker assisted the voter in marking their choice and casting their vote.
“Georgia law allows voters to spoil their printed ballot if they make the wrong selection on the ballot marking device,” the Whitfield County officials said. “If a voter requests to change their selections, they are immediately given a new opportunity to make and print the correct choice.”
Greene later updated her post to include a statement from county election officials explaining what happened and thanking them for resolving the issue.
AP contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s name.
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