ATLANTA — Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger and other election officials on Thursday denounced a video as "targeted disinformation" and "obviously fake" which purported to show a Haitian immigrant making claims of obtaining multiple state driver's licenses and voting multiple times in the 2024 election.
Raffensperger and the chief operating officer in the Secretary of State's Office, Gabriel Sterling, both said the video was likely the product of Russian troll farms. The federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) later Friday concluded it was the product of "Russian influence actors."
"Earlier today, our office became aware of a video purporting to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia ID's claiming to have voted multiple times," a statement by Raffensperger said. "This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation we've seen in this and other elections. It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the 2024 presidential election."
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A joint release by CISA, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said: "This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI of election updates. In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the IC (intelligence community) expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”
The video circulated on social media. In it, a man claiming to be from Haiti says he came to the U.S. six months ago and already has citizenship, displaying eight Georgia driver's licenses with the same photo. The person in the video further claims to have voted in Gwinnett County, and is voting a second time in Fulton County. He says in the video he is voting for Kamala Harris.
The video appeared to begin circulating with a Trump-supporting viral content account that tends to post both real and AI-generated images and videos. The exact composition of the video -- whether fully AI-generated or perhaps partly filmed and edited -- was not clear.
"In the meantime, we ask Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms to take this down," Raffensperger said. "This is obviously fake and part of a disinformation effort. Likely it is a production of Russian troll farms."
Sterling, the Secretary of State's Office COO, wrote that, "No responsible person would retweet this ridiculously obvious lie and disinformation."
"Those doing so are acting to further the efforts of America's enemies and undermine the security of our nation," Sterling wrote. "The judgement of those sharing this should be questioned in all things."
Sterling also reposted a message written by Chris Krebs, the former director of CISA under former President Trump.
"More nonsense from Russian troll farms. Expect a deluge of pure nonsense like this in the next several weeks," Krebs wrote. "You're the mark. They think you're stupid. They think you're incapable of half an ounce of critical thinking. Prove them wrong."
“The IC assesses that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia. This judgment is based on information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. The Georgia Secretary of State has already refuted the video’s claims as false.
Russian influence actors also manufactured a video falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a U.S. entertainer.
This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates. In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the IC expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”