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On 16 October 2016, Twitter user @randygdub claimed that he worked for the United States Postal Service (USPS) in Columbus, Ohio, and enjoyed ripping up absentee ballots cast for Donald Trump: The tweet went viral and provoked significant outrage, prompting several web sites to inaccurately report that a USPS employee was caught ripping up Trump ballots. The person who tweeted this was not a confirmed postal worker, much less caught in the act. Many people in the angry camp apparently did not view the rest of @randygdub's tweets, which are inconsistent and apparently published solely to cause controversy: The user posted no proof of employment with USPS or any organization, nor was his story particularly plausible: We contacted the Franklin County Board of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State's Elections division and asked about the mailing format of Ohio's absentee ballots. They told us that Ohio's absentee ballots are enclosed in not one but two secrecy envelopes, making it impossible for postal workers to identify Trump votes without opening envelopes: Nevertheless, @USPSHelp was deluged with complaints. A representative confirmed that the Postal Service investigated and determined that Raandy was most likely not an employee: Although many web sites framed the claim to suggest that a USPS employee had been caught ripping up ballot envelopes which contained Trump votes, the claim appeared on social media without any proof to substantiate it.
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