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00:00In the battleground state of Pennsylvania at Luzerne County Courthouse, Republicans
00:14hurl insults at Democratic lawmakers.
00:19On the agenda, a legal dispute over drop boxes, locked structures where voters can deliver
00:25their mail-in ballots. Statistics from the 2020 election show that Democrats are twice
00:30as likely to vote by mail than Republicans. Trump supporter T.J. Fitzgerald pushes a misleading
00:37claim about illegal immigrants voting using drop boxes.
00:51Non-citizen voting is illegal and extremely rare. After the 2016 election, the Brennan
00:57Center surveyed local election officials in 42 jurisdictions with high immigrant populations
01:03and found just 30 cases of suspected non-citizens voting out of 23.5 million. That's just one
01:11vote in a million.
01:12Multiple analyses have shown that it is more likely someone will be hit by lightning than
01:18commit mail ballot fraud.
01:20There is no problem with drop boxes. There's no problem.
01:25No, you're the problems.
01:26Excuse me.
01:27Hey.
01:28Sorry.
01:29No, you're not sorry.
01:31There have been issues with the vote in previous elections in Luzerne County. In 2022, for
01:36example, the ballot machines ran out of paper, but this was due to human error, not a conspiracy
01:42to rig the vote.
01:44Amongst the Trump supporters, MAGA influencer Scott Pressler. He was a foot soldier in the
01:50Stop the Steal campaign that spread the false claim that Trump won the 2020 election and
01:55culminated in the January 6th insurrection. Scott was on the Capitol grounds that day.
02:01He's part of a push to register Republicans to vote. Trump's daughter-in-law invited him
02:05on stage at a rally for the former president to thank him for his efforts.
02:09Pennsylvania, you have the power to change the world.
02:14Scott is not from Luzerne County, but he's moved here so that he can vote in Pennsylvania,
02:18a crucial swing state.
02:20We are going to turn Pennsylvania blood red peacefully and elect Donald J. Trump as the
02:2847th president of the United States. Thank you very much.
02:33He streams his activities on social media.
02:36I think the Democrats are going to pull any trick out of the book to try to stop Donald
02:41Trump, whether that's trying to imprison him, shoot him or stop him from winning this November,
02:47as we've seen.
02:48According to Milda Crocomo, the woman in charge of elections here in Luzerne County is not
02:51having any of it.
02:53Words that are used at the meeting, something to the effect about red blood or something
02:58like that, that's a little troubling. There was a post of a mock-up of the character from
03:05V for Vendetta.
03:07The meme casts Scott as the vigilante hero in P for Pennsylvania in a reworking of a
03:13poster from a film which is about the violent overthrow of a government.
03:17That particular individual has come to our bureau and tried to disrupt the staff, which
03:23I have no time for, but he didn't impress me.
03:27Ramilda has received threats. She's concerned her electoral bureau might be targeted. She's
03:32not taking any chances. The drop boxes are bolted to the floor. There are surveillance
03:39cameras and boulders around the building to prevent vehicles from ramming into it.
03:44This political climate, it's beyond hate. It's a venom. It's frightening. I think we're
03:51a microcosm of what's happening in the country, and we are on the front lines.
03:56The vote has already started. All the talk over the risk of fraud has made some people
04:01nervous.
04:02I didn't believe in the integrity of the election in the previous one, and this one's extremely
04:05important, so I feel that it was better to come in person and do it.
04:10T.J. is part of the grassroots drive to register voters. In Pennsylvania, the vote could be
04:15decided on tiny margins.
04:17We have multiple places throughout the county that we put a desk, we put a tent up, and
04:22we get them to convert from Democrat to Republican or vote or register for the first time.
04:27In 2016, Trump flipped Luzerne County, which had long been a Democratic stronghold, and
04:32won the state of Pennsylvania by a narrow margin. In 2020, Trump won the county again,
04:38but lost the overall vote in Pennsylvania to Biden. T.J. believes Trump won the previous
04:44election. He's convinced the Democrats cheated.
04:47They want to screw us over, they want us to shut up, and they want to take our country.
04:52And we are saying no more. No more. We are going to shout, we're going to scream, we're
04:58going to vote, and we're going to take our country back.
05:01Voter fraud is extremely rare in the United States. An Associated Press review of the
05:06six battleground states Trump disputed in the 2020 election found only 475 potential
05:12cases of voter fraud, which would not have changed the result in any state.
05:18Efforts to sow doubt in the integrity of U.S. elections is really about trying to undermine
05:24faith through repetition. It is about getting attention on the claims of doubt and not about
05:29actually trying to address security of the vote. I think what is likely is incidences
05:33of like stochastic terrorism, where you have incidences of violence across the country
05:38in various places.
05:40Democrats are going door to door in Luzerne County because here every vote will count.
05:45They say the Republicans are spreading lies, laying the groundwork to contest the outcome
05:49if Trump loses.
05:51It's psychological warfare. It's a blatant attempt to spread propaganda, to spread disinformation
05:58among Democratic voters. I think that it probably will turn into somewhat of lengthy
06:04court battle.
06:05On a street a few blocks down, a pro-Trump household. A neighbor has made her own sign
06:11in response.
06:12I looked across the street and I saw these, like, Democrats are pedophiles and Democrats
06:19are terrorists. And I'm not a Democrat. I'm a registered independent, but I am voting
06:25straight blue.
06:27I don't understand there are so many that still believe the lies. If there's any fraud,
06:32I would say it would be on the other side, or maybe planning fraud. He's got a sign over
06:37that says fight, fight, fight. I say vote, vote, vote.
06:41Officials hope that disinformation and distrust won't lead to a nightmarish scenario on or
06:47around election day.
06:56Now is the time.
06:58This breakthrough is the answer to the prayers of millions and millions of people.
07:03Together, because we love our country.
07:06We're here to fight for our democracy.
07:08And he will make America great again.
07:13When we fight, we win.
07:16Which direction will America take? Find out on November 5th, only on France 24.
07:25November 5th.
07:55France 24, your window on the world.
08:23Liberté. Égalité. Actualité.