A viral video that appears to show a poll worker destroying a ballot for President Donald Trump was created as "a joke" by a TikTok prankster and posted in order to attract views, it has emerged.
TikTok user @bigchoppadoe has been revealed as the person behind the clip, which many viewers believe is genuine and proof of election fraud.
According to Heavy, @bigchoppadoe's real name is Dale Harrison. In a series of comments posted on Facebook, Harrison has said that he is not a poll worker, and instead created the clip as a joke in order to attract views.
"Sooo I did this video in my Amazon outfit cause y'all know I'm always joking! And it's getting crazyyyy views! They ... finding me on every app!!!! So when do I move to Hollywood??? Hahahah," Harrison wrote in a Facebook status.
Replying to a comment asking if he really had destroyed ballots, he added "it's a joke. I've never worked for them," instead claiming that he actually works for Amazon and is wearing his work uniform in the video.
"That's my Amazon outfit! But it's getting me views!" he added.
The clip is no longer confined to TikTok, and has been spread on several online platforms, including Twitter, YouTube and forum sites such as The Donald. The comments that the video has provoked suggest that a great deal of viewers believe it is genuine.
The election was dogged by conspiracy theories and widespread—often baseless—allegations of voter fraud, which have spread and in some cases originated on social media.
Last week, Trump's son Eric Trump shared two videos on Twitter, both of which claim to show ballots being destroyed.
One of these clips, which has been viewed five million times on Twitter, appears to show a vote counter crumpling up a piece of paper. Eric Trump's suggestion was that the paper was a ballot that had been cast in his father's favor, but others have claimed that the piece of paper was too small to be a ballot.
He claimed that another video he had shared on Twitter showed 80 Trump ballots being burned.
Officials in Virginia debunked the video. "A concerned citizen shared a video with us that ostensibly shows someone burning ballots. They are NOT official ballots, they are sample ballots," they said.
