Pa. Secretary of the Commonwealth addresses election disinformation

On Wednesday afternoon, without mentioning specific claims from former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that “Pennsylvania is cheating” — or mentioning Trump by name at all — Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, a Republican, addressed “media questions” over election integrity.

Schmidt took time during a regular media briefing to note that election workers across the state are working hard to ensure the upcoming election is “free, fair, safe and secure.”

“Non-partisan election officials are doing their jobs across Pennsylvania and they are working very hard to ensure we have free, fair, safe and secure elections,” he said.

Earlier in the day, former president Trump had posted online that “Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before.”

Without specifically mentioning Trump’s accusation, Schmidt said that his office has already seen examples of “mis- and disinformation” floating around online, including videos that have been posted without context.

“We know there is already a lot of mis- and disinformation about Pennsylvania’s elections and it’s likely to continue in the coming days and weeks ahead,” said Schmidt.