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Does a Video Show Someone Burning Ballots With Votes for Trump?
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Does a Video Show Someone Burning Ballots With Votes for Trump?

No.

On Wednesday, Eric Trump tweeted a link to what he claimed was a video of someone burning ballots in favor of Donald Trump in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

The city of Virginia Beach quickly addressed the matter and issued a statement, clarifying that the ballots in the video were not real, but were actually sample ballots:

“A concerned citizen shared a video with us that ostensibly shows someone burning ballots. They are NOT official ballots, they are sample ballots.”

Virginia Beach officials also included a still image of the alleged ballots from the video, which as they point out in a statement, are missing “bar code markings” present on “all official ballots.”

“The top photo is a screen grab from the video posted, ostensibly of an individual burning ballots. Note the absence of the bar code markings that are on all official ballots (below). The ballots in the video were sample ballots. Fire investigators are looking into the illegal burning.”

In response to  Eric Trump’s false tweet, the city of Virginia Beach replied with a link to their statement, saying: “Those were sample ballots. Addressed this yesterday.”

Photograph by Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons.

Khaya Himmelman is a fact checker for The Dispatch. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and Barnard College.

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