'Obviously fake': Swing state elections head smacks down 'troll farm' hoax

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Thursday called out a false social media claim involving Haitian immigrants being given documents to vote in the presidential election within six months of arriving in the United States – claims the election official said were likely cooked up by Russian troll farms “attempting to sow discord and chaos.”

“Illegal Haitians flown into the U.S. claim they received all necessary documents and driver’s licenses within just six months of arriving in the U.S. and are able to vote!!" exclaimed the right-wing X account known as AlphaFox. "They show several Georgia driver’s licenses featuring the same photo and claim to have voted for Kamala Harris in two different counties so far: Gwinnett and Fulton. This is insane!! Imagine how many others are doing this!! Can someone from Gwinnett County and Fulton County in Georgia please verify this?!”

The allegation raised five days before Election Day prompted the attention of no less than the critical swing state’s top election official, who took to social media Thursday to vigorously deny it.

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“We have discussed this with State and Federal authorities,” Raffensperger, a Republican, posted on X. “This is obviously fake, and likely it is a production of Russian troll farms. As Americans we can’t let our enemies use lies to divide us and undermine faith in our institutions - or each other.”

Raffensperger’s smackdown of the claims was also echoed by Darren Linvill, a professor at The Clemson University Media Forensics Hub, who studies disinformation.

“Video currently circulating of Haitian immigrants claiming to be voting illegally in Georgia has several hallmarks of the Russian, Storm-1516 campaign. The narrative focus, style and production of the video, as well as the distribution method all line up,” Linvill wrote to his followers on X. “Without question the video is fake . . . I cannot think of a less cost effective and more risky way of getting out the vote than to fly people here from Haiti and provide them with fake documents.”

Election fraud conspiracy theories have continued to creep up since former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss followed by his refusal to admit defeat. Trump’s campaign is now reportedly behind a revived effort to push debunked theories involving hacked voting machines.