Video Claims Handful Of Bucks County Invalid Ballots Improperly Trashed, But Shows No Fraud

An activist group has alleged that a very small amount of spoiled ballots – meaning a ballot that has been invalidated and not counted – were found in the trash outside of a Bucks County voting location.

The controversial group Project Veritas alleges in an email sent to LevittownNow.com and a video posted on YouTube that eight to 10 invalidated ballots were discovered ripped up in a trash bin.

The video from the group, which gained more than 250,000 views, shows what appears to be spoiled ballots that were torn up and spread out. The video blurs the areas where identifiable information of voters is located, but multiple ballots don’t have votes for president listed and some voter information was not filled out.

Neil McCabe, a spokesperson for the nonprofit organization known for sting operations, said Project Veritas had a team in Bucks County that dug through trash bags outside an Upper Bucks County polling place following last Tuesday’s election.

Spoiled ballots are required by state law to be retained for some time by county boards of elections before being scrapped.

The video shows Thomas Freitag, the Bucks County Board of Elections director, appearing to admit that at least one of the ballots looked real.

Freitag said in the video that the problem was likely caused by “ignorance” by an election worker.

A county official said Sunday morning that the incident was being looked into.

McCabe said the group had no evidence the problem was widespread or that there was voter fraud within the county.

“I can’t read into the hearts of men like The Shadow,” McCabe said when asked if Project Veritas had information on the intention on the people or person who disposed of the scrapped ballots. (The Shadow is a classic comic series.)

No one from Project Veritas had spoken with law enforcement about the ballots, McCabe told LevittownNow.com.

Human errors by poll workers, who work once or twice a year at the most, are rare but not unheard of.

Project Veritas had no additional information of voting problems within the county, the group’s spokesman said.

Officials, elected leaders, and politicos have said there have been no signs of widespread fraud involving voting in the county or state.

“Any criticism of the integrity of this election is a direct attack on the integrity of those public servants,” the Bucks County Commissioners – two Democrats and a Republican – said in a joint statement on Friday.

Several Republican sources have noted the GOP did well in Bucks County and across Pennsylvania, while the Democrats so-called “blue wave” never appeared. Although the president lost, there were gains for the Republicans.

President Donald Trump’s campaign has made allegations of fraud across the country, but they have produced little evidence.

Conspiracy theorists have run with the allegations of widespread and voter fraud. Nearly all the claims that have gone viral on social media have been debunked.

Project Veritas is fronted by activist James O’Keefe, who also leads a political advocacy group. He has appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and his work is often featured in conservative media outlets.

Over the years, Project Veritas has been questioned for recording people without their knowledge and acts of deception. The group calls those involved with their work “journalists,” but their tactics differ from that of many reporters and don’t always follow ethical guidelines often employed by news organizations.

O’Keefe pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in 2010 after an incident at a senator’s office where he claims a team were investigating allegations of calls that were being ignored, according The Hill.

In Bucks County, close to 390,000 voters were cast in the 2020 general election.

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