Bucks County in the swing state of Pennsylvania is the “target” of election misinformation

A viral video that appears to cast doubt on the Harris-Waltz campaign in Bucks County is circulating on social media days after authorities said another video was a hoax, prompting the chairman of the county’s Democratic Committee on Friday to assume that this is not a coincidence.

“It seems pretty clear that Bucks County is being targeted,” state Sen. Steve Santarciero, D-10 of Lower Makefield, said Friday after the second video surfaced.

The 2-minute video had more than 1.3 million views as of Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, and TikTok. He questions the location of what appears to be a Harris-Waltz campaign office near an alleged post office in Bucks County.

In another case, a viral video was posted on social media on Thursday that allegedly shows someone destroying mailed ballots, has been declared a hoax by local and federal authorities investigating its source.

A second campaign office video appears to be another hoax, according to Bucks County officials.

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The Harris-Walz campaign has three offices in Bucks County, located in Doylestown, Bensalem and Newtown, and to Santarserio’s knowledge, none of the offices are located in shopping centers or locations similar to the one in the video.

As far as he knows, the Harris-Walz campaign also doesn’t use paid canvassers, instead relying on door-knocking volunteers to get its message across, Santarciero added.

A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania campaign did not return an email or voicemail Friday asking about the video and the location of the Bucks County offices.

A second video, also released Thursday, shows an unidentified man wearing a “USA” baseball cap outside an unidentified shopping center he says is located in Bucks County.

The man claims to be outside the Harris-Walz office, located near the US Post Office, and comments on the location and appearance of the office, including a handwritten sign in the window that he says advertises $25 an hour.

“Oh, it’s not sad at all. Kamala Harris’ campaign has leased space in swing-state Bucks County, Pennsylvania. They closed and blacked out all the windows and hired people for $25 an hour. Guess where this place is right next door, the building adjoins… The Post Office. He tried to ask what they were doing, and they yelled at him, “Get out of here”—“There’s two guys here. They won’t tell you what’s going on, but I asked them for a job. They told me no. Get out of here” “They hide everything they do” according to the post above the video on X.

The new video follows an unidentified man opening a stack of Bucks County ballot envelopes and tearing up ballots containing votes for former President Donald Trump and returning ballots for Vice President Kamala Harris.

This was reported by representatives of the federal government to USA Today The Bucks ballot video may be part of an orchestrated Russian disinformation campaign as part of a covert effort to help elect Trump.

Recent polls show that the fight for the presidential election will be inconclusive. That makes Pennsylvania — and especially Bucks County, an affluent “purple” suburb near Philadelphia, critical area of fluctuation in determining the result. Newly both campaigns have visited the county to to solicit voters.

Santarciero said he agreed the video was an attempt to cast doubt on the security of the election.

“Whoever is behind this and other videos is trying to cast doubt on our election process and ultimately the election results,” he said. “It is dangerous. These people play by different rules. It’s obvious.”

On Friday, Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvey, who also chairs the election commission, reiterated that the county is taking precautions to protect the integrity of the election.

“We conduct elections according to the letter of the law, and we will not be influenced, distracted or intimidated by deliberate attempts to violate the right of our residents to vote,” Harvey said in a written statement. “The people of Bucks County deserve an election they can have complete confidence in, and that’s exactly what we intend to give them.

Reporter Joe Chiavaglia can be reached at [email protected]