Officials: Pennsylvania postal worker admits making up allegations of ballot tampering

Mail-in ballots at a postal sorting facility.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 11 November 2020

A postal worker in Erie, Pennsylvania, who claimed that a postmaster instructed workers to backdate ballots mailed after Election Day, has admitted to U.S. Postal Service investigators that he fabricated his story, three people with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Richard Hopkins signed an affidavit saying he heard the supervisor make the order, which was made public by the right-wing group Project Veritas. President Trump has refused to concede the election, claiming there was widespread voter fraud, and his campaign provided Hopkins' affidavit to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham then sent a letter to the Department of Justice and FBI regarding the allegations, demanding they launch an investigation.

The Post reports that Hopkins was first interviewed on Friday, and on Sunday, he told investigators he made the whole thing up and signed an affidavit recanting his story. The House Oversight Committee tweeted on Tuesday evening that Hopkins did not explain why he made up the allegations. In a Facebook post, Rob Weisenbach, the postmaster in Erie, said Hopkins' claims were "100 percent false" and "made by an employee that was recently disciplined multiple times. The Erie Post Office did not backdate any ballots."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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