A video, initially posted on X, went viral nationwide with claims that the state’s Democratic establishment tricked Chinese-speaking immigrants into voting for Proposition 50.

The monolingual seniors depicted in the video, however, tell Mission Local that it’s bogus. And they’re mad.

Over 60 percent of the Californians who voted in the state’s Nov. 4 special election cast their ballots in favor of Prop. 50, a high-profile measure to gerrymander California’s congressional map to add more seats for Democrats — a direct challenge to Trump’s demand to gerrymander Democrats out of Congressional office in Republican-led states.

The story behind the video began last Friday, when 50 Chinese senior citizens gathered at San Francisco City Hall to cast votes in favor of Prop. 50. Joining them were San Francisco’s two state assembly members, Catherine Stefani and Matt Haney.

In the X video, Bess Byers, a digital media specialist for the libertarian magazine, Reason, walks past the group of seniors — without talking to them — and follows Stefani towards City Hall, asking them repeatedly whether they would support Prop. 50 if Republicans were in favor of it. “We would love for Republicans to push for Prop 50,” says Stefani. “But they’re not. So your question makes no sense.”

At this, Byers changes the subject, “I have the footage of you guys leading a bunch of Asian Americans to the voting poll ,” Byers says. “I speak Chinese. None of them know what they’re voting for. You don’t think that’s weird? Is that even legal?”

“That’s ridiculous,” said On Siu Lau, 75, in a mix of Cantonese and Mandarin. Lau remembers Byers, and does not remember her saying anything in Chinese to the group of seniors except for one sentence in Mandarin: “‘Do you speak English?’” Frankie Falzon, Stefani’s district director, said that aside from the one sentence in Mandarin, Byers kept asking the seniors questions like “Do you know what you are voting for?” in English.

That account was confirmed by another attendee, Chi Koo Lam, 73, as well as Leon Chow, who organized the event for the San Francisco Democratic Party. 

Weijiang Huang, a Sing Tao Daily reporter who covered the event, said that at one point he shouted out loud to the crowd in Cantonese, “‘Does anyone here know what Prop. 50 is about?’” 

They did: “They told me that they believe Democrats are more supportive of grassroots interests, so supporting Democrats means supporting their own interests.” 

Huang described Byers as “aggressive” and said she “kept questioning the seniors in English the whole time. The seniors didn’t understand English and didn’t respond at all.”

“They are even more afraid when people ask questions in English, because if it gets published in English, they have no way to refute,” added Huang. 

Once posted, the video was quickly picked up by other conservative influencers. By 5 p.m. Wednesday, the tweet had gained over 15,000 likes, 8,000 retweets, and nearly half a million views.

Byers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stefani responded with a statement that “What we are seeing online is racism, plain and simple,” adding that, contrary to the claim that lack of English proficiency prevents understanding of ballot measures, San Francisco ballots are printed in multiple languages, including Chinese. 

Huang, who has covered and supported local Chinese seniors for years, said it is self-evident that these seniors have their own political views, especially when the issue affects their lives. 

Before returning their ballots, the group was filmed chanting in English, “50 ballots, 50 yes, we will take the Congress back,” and a similar slogan in Chinese.

Lau, one of the seniors present on Friday, said he was at City Hall because, “Stefani shared our views, so we supported her.” As for why the seniors didn’t talk back to Byers, Lau had an answer for that too, “She didn’t respect us. So of course we ignored her.”