A video of Haitian migrants voting in Georgia’s elections is fake and the work of “Russian influence actors,” according to U.S. intelligence.
In the clip, two people claiming to be Haitian migrants say they are planning to vote multiple times in two different Georgia counties for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We’re voting Kamala Harris. Yesterday, we voted in Gwinnett County, and today we’re voting in Fulton County,” one person says. “We have all our document – driver’s license. We invite all Haitians to come to America and bring families.”
The video was amplified by right-wing accounts on social media.
“The [U.S. Intelligence Community] 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,” read a joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“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.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Thursday night that the video is “obviously fake,” and likely the product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
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The intelligence community’s statement said the video “is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans.”
“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.”
Georgia is one of seven swing states that could decide the presidential election. More than half of the state’s fired-up electorate have already gone to the polls during the early voting period. Former President Donald Trump won Georgia in 2016 while President Joe Biden won the Peach State in 2020.
Haitian migrants found themselves front and center of the U.S. news cycle after unfounded claims that they were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, were amplified by Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The 60,000-person town saw a rapid influx of some 20,000 migrants, largely of Haitian origin, over the past few years.
A report by the ODNI last week said definitively that Russia prefers former President Donald Trump to win the election and Iran prefers Harris. Both U.S. adversaries are working to interfere in the election.
“Moscow and Tehran may also see an opportunity to continue pushing content favoring their preferred outcome,” the report said. “For instance, Russian influence actors have pushed negative messaging about VP Harris and publicly alleged conspiracy theories about her elevation to the top of the ticket. Iranian cyber actors may try to publish content denigrating former President Trump.”
The report also warned that China, Iran and Russia are “better prepared to exploit” elections this year due to “lessons drawn from the 2020 cycle.”
China, the report said, is likely to focus its efforts on down-ballot congressional races.
The report found that foreign actors “will probably refrain from” trying to alter the vote count since vote casting machines are not connected to the internet and 97% of voters live in precincts with paper records and a paper audit trail — and doing so could prompt Washington to retaliate.
But U.S. adversaries took lessons from the drawn-out vote counting process in 2020.
“Many of these countries did not have a full appreciation for the various election processes that happen after polls close, and now that they have greater awareness of the significance, they have greater ability to attempt to disrupt them,” an ODNI official told reporters.
Intelligence officials have routinely warned that Beijing, Moscow and Tehran would be working overtime to sow division and undermine confidence in the U.S. governing system in an election year, and especially in the days leading up to Election Day.
The official noted that intelligence linked Moscow to a recent unfounded claim circulating on social media about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sexually assaulting a student while he was a high school teacher.
