Did non-English-speaking voters cut in line to vote early in Pennsylvania? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, told Lead Stories that a video circulating online is incomplete; some elderly and disabled people were allowed to wait their turn inside. A group of voters applying for mail-in ballots needed the help of translators, and the rest of the group returned to the back of the line outside, the spokesperson said.
The claim appeared in a post on X (archived here) on October 27, 2024.
It said:
BUSSES of non-english speaking 'citizens' are guided past Americans who had been waiting in line for hours to cast their early votes. These people, all wearing Harris Walz stickers, were directed through the voting process by a handful of 'translators'.
Here's how the post looked at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Oct 30 17:29:24 2024 UTC)
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (archived here) only allows early voting through a mail-in ballot. However, voters can walk into a select group of satellite election offices (archived here), request a mail-in ballot, fill it out on the spot and return their sealed ballot envelope before leaving.
In the video posted on X on October 27, 2024, a group of about a dozen people -- some heard speaking Spanish -- walk up to a woman standing outside the South Park Satellite Election Office near Pittsburgh. In the background, a long line of people can be seen waiting to go inside. The video ends while all the people in the group are still outside talking with the woman, and no one is seen entering the building.
The post claims the group was "guided past Americans who had been waiting in line for hours to cast their early vote."
But a spokesperson for Allegheny County said the video was posted without proper context. In a statement (archived here) released to Lead Stories on October 30, 2024, the county said a group of voters showed up to apply for mail-in ballots but needed help from translators. Elderly or disabled members of the group were allowed to remain inside per policy. The rest returned to the back of the line. The incident happened on October 26, 2024, the day before the video was posted.
Here is the complete statement sent to Lead Stories:
Statement from Allegheny County Elections Regarding a Video Circulating Online of Voters at the South Park Satellite Office on Oct. 26
PITTSBURGH - There was a group of voters on Saturday, Oct. 26, at the South Park Satellite Election Office who came to apply for mail in ballots and needed the assistance of translators. There was brief conversation between voters, their translators, and a County employee that was videotaped and is circulating on the internet.
The County employee provided instructions that elderly and disabled people were allowed to sit while they waited for their applications to process (as County employees had allowed for any elderly or disabled voter who was attempting to vote at any of our Satellite Offices). The able-bodied voters returned to the back of the line, elderly and disabled voters were permitted to sit and wait their turn, and those who needed the assistance of a translator were able to use their translator to help them through the process.
The deadline to register to vote was October 21. Therefore, any individual who requested a mail-in ballot this past weekend only would have been given a ballot if they were already registered. Only US Citizens may register to vote.
At least one member of the group can be seen on the posted video using a cane. Contrary to the original post, none of people on the video could be seen wearing "Harris Walz stickers."
Lead Stories will include information from the account on X that posted the video if they respond to this fact check.
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims surrounding the 2024 U.S. presidential election are here.
