Tweet Bragging About Ripping Up Trump Ballots Turns Out To Be Prank
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — U.S. Postal Service officials say they found no evidence of a postal employee ripping up absentee ballots cast for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump after an apparent Twitter joke incited conservatives on the social media site.
A conservative blog called The Gateway Pundit took note of the tweet in a blog post, which was picked up by The Drudge Report and Rush Limbaugh, both of whom broadcast the tweet out to their millions of followers.
The tweet itself went viral and was shared more than 2,000 times, drawing angry tweets from Trump supporters including Scott Baio and prompting an inquiry to the U.S. Postal Service from Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.
The USPS Help account on Twitter was subsequently bombarded with angry demands to investigate the tweet.
The author of the original tweet, @randygdubs, could not be reached for comment, but did answer The Daily Beast as to whether he actually worked at an Ohio post office.
His reply: "lol no".
Since the second presidential debate, Trump has increasingly warned of voter fraud and election rigging.
