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Raffensperger says viral video of alleged voter fraud ‘obviously fake’ and possible foreign meddling in Georgia election
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Raffensperger says viral video of alleged voter fraud ‘obviously fake’ and possible foreign meddling in Georgia election

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Thursday that the state has been targeted by election disinformation, pointing to a viral video of alleged voter fraud that he suggested could be the result of foreign interference.

The original video, which appeared on social media platform X on Thursday, has had more than half a million views and allegedly showed a Haitian immigrant claiming to have voted multiple times for Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election. Even though the original post has been deleted, the video continues to circulate on social media as evidence of alleged voter fraud.

Raffensperger, the top election official in the battleground state, said the video is “obviously fake” and intended to raise illegitimate concerns about Georgia’s voting process. He said he was working with state and federal officials to “combat” the video and “identify its origin.”

“Earlier today, our office learned that a video purporting to show a multiple-ID Haitian immigrant from Georgia claiming to have voted multiple times,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation that we have seen in this election.”

“CISA (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency) is currently investigating,” Raffensperger said. “In the meantime, we’re asking Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms to take this down. This is patently false and part of a disinformation effort. It’s probably a production of Russian troll farms.”

CNN reached out to the X account that appeared to have posted the video Thursday to ask for information and context about the content. The account has been active on Twitter since 2009.

Former CISA director Chris Krebs attributed the video to “more crap from Russian troll farms.”

“Expect a deluge of pure nonsense like this over the next few weeks,” he continued.

Amy Kremer, who sits on the Republican National Committee, shared the video on X, asking, “How did they get multiple IDs?” and saying that “it’s illegal and it’s not okay.”

Gabriel Sterling, the director of operations for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, hit back at Kremer on social media for sharing the video.

“No responsible person would retweet this ridiculously obvious lie and misinformation. Those who do so act to further the efforts of America’s enemies and undermine our nation’s security. The judgment of those who share this should be questioned in all things.” Sterling said on X.

Raffensperger said Thursday that “as Americans we cannot let our enemies use lies to divide us and undermine our trust in our institutions — or in each other.”

More than half of Georgia voters have already cast their ballots as early voting turnout broke previous records set in 2020 across the state.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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