Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show ‘Ballot Mule’ At Lincoln, Nebraska, Branch Library
Does a video of a person with a skateboard show a “ballot mule caught on camera at a branch library in Lincoln, Nebraska? No, that’s not true: Local election officials who reviewed surveillance footage of the location confirmed that the person was only returning his ballot to the library’s ballot drop box. Both the account that is the focus of this fact check and the local Republican Party say that they agree with election officials that nothing improper was seen in the video.
The claim appeared in a post for a video (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on November 2, 2024. The post’s text said:
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Nov 4 17:34:04 2024 UTC)
The post referred to a location in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Google Maps’ description of the library mentions a ballot drop box.
The video, however, didn’t show anything that suggested the voter was a “ballot mule” — a person submitting large numbers of fake ballots. That becomes even more evident when the clip is played at a reduced speed in full-screen mode.
The viewer sees a person in dark clothes approaching the ballot drop box. The person puts a skateboard down and retrieves a ballot from a backpack. The video shows that the voter only casts it once and then takes a series of selfies in front of the ballot box.
The video’s narrator largely described that:
That’s one … Maybe … He’s looking around … Getting out his cellphone … He’s taking a picture of himself. Looks like a selfie … selfie … selfie … what a …? (laughter)
The “Maybe” is not supported by the movements of the person seen in the video. When the narrator said “That’s one,” the person was seen figuring out where to insert what appeared to be one ballot. The video did not show him inserting more than that.
On November 4, 2024, the Lancaster County Election Commission posted a statement on X that refuted the claim:
We reviewed our surveillance footage of the ballot drop box and were able to identify the voter when we
retrieved his ballot. They have a video of a young man returning his ballot for his first Presidential Election
He took a selfie to memorialize this important milestone in his life.
‘It is shameful and unAmerican to intimidate and threaten anyone for exercising their right to vote’ said
Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen.
It concluded:
Commissioner Wiltgen stated
‘They should remove the post and apologize immediately.’
This is what the Lancaster County Election Commission’s post looked like at the time of writing:
(X screenshot taken on Mon, Nov 04 at 20:56:00 2024 UTC)
The owner of the account on X that is the focus of this fact check, @ettbtrf, also posted on November 4, 2024, that they agreed with the election commission, and thanked it for “promptly addressing and resolving this situation.” The post said in part:
After clarification, it’s heartening to learn that this young voter was simply ‘casting his first ballot in a presidential election,’ a milestone worth celebrating.
At the same time, the “ballot mule” post remained on the X platform at the time of this writing.
The local Democratic Party does not appear to have commented on the video on social media, but the Lancaster County Republican Party posted on X (archived here) on November 3, 2024:
Everyone Calm down this is CONFIRMED to be a young man retuning his ballot for his first ever presidential election‼️
During a follow-up phone call on November 4, 2024, a representative of the Lancaster Election Commission told Lead Stories that the name of the entity that created the video was the Voter Accuracy Project (archived here).
The Voter Accuracy Project website urges Nebraskan voters to conduct “full forensic audits” to detect fraud and “repeat the election” if fraud is discovered. The group itself could not be reached for comment.
