Twitter is blocking retweets of the official statement from the Erie County Election Board on a viral post from a man claiming to be an election worker who was throwing away ballots for Trump.
The highly partisan platform also suspended Courtney Holland for 12 hours for posting a screenshot of the man’s claims on Instagram.
In his Instagram post, a man named Sebastian Machado wrote that he had “been working at the poll station in Erie County, PA all morning. A lot of people have already voted today :)” He added, “I’ve thrown away over a hundred ballots for trump already!!! Pennsylvania gonna turn blue 2020!!”
Holland tweeted the screenshots with a note saying that what he claimed to be doing is illegal.
When this reporter attempted to share a press release stating that the man does not actually work for the board of elections, Twitter would not allow it.
Twitter wont let me retweet a press release from the Erie County election board @MichaelCoudrey pic.twitter.com/FdcAcLKBnj
— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) November 3, 2020
The censored press release states that the person who made the claim “does not work in any way with Erie Country or have any part of Erie County’s election process. In fact, the individual is not a registered voter and is not believed to be a resident of Erie County, PA.”
The statement added that there is an ongoing investigation into potential criminal charges.
