Fake: Ballot-Burning Video Shared by Eric Trump

Suzy Woltmann

Politics

5th November 2020

Fake: Ballot-Burning Video Shared by Eric Trump

The ballots in the video were sample ballots (Getty Images).

The Claim

The video below depicts someone burning 80 ballots cast for U.S. President Trump in the presidential election.

News posted on

Eric Trump

Wendy Wood

Denise@Homesick4Hills

Red Viper 2.0 2020

Emerging story

On Election Day, the claim went viral on Twitter and Facebook, with many saying it proves election fraud.

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation found that the video is fake. The City of Virginia Beach released a statement saying that the ballots being burned are not official ballots, but rather sample ballots.

Despite being debunked by the City of Virginia Beach, the video continues to be shared on social media. Eric Trump shared the video at around 3:40 pm on Wednesday.

The City of Virginia Beach's statement about the fake video included photos taken from still shots, in which it is clear that the ballots being burned are sample ballots.

Misbar verified the statement by taking several freeze-frame shots of our own. It is evident that the ballots in the video are sample ballots.

“Those were sample ballots,” the city responded to Eric Trump on Twitter.

Twitter has suspended the account that first published the video.

We saw a flood of false information about President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden since November 1, 2020, including many images and videos of ballot tampering that may be old or out of context, show misleading statistics on voter fraud, and imply baseless allegations of foreign interference.

Misbar’s fact-checkers are following the news closely to investigate all viral claims.