{"id":40325,"date":"2025-11-06T05:26:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T05:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/40325\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T05:26:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T05:26:06","slug":"video-accuses-chinese-seniors-of-election-fraud-they-call-it-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/40325\/","title":{"rendered":"Video accuses Chinese seniors of election fraud. They call it racism"},"content":{"rendered":"

A video<\/a>, initially posted on X, went viral nationwide with claims that the state\u2019s Democratic establishment tricked Chinese-speaking immigrants into voting for Proposition 50.<\/p>\n

The monolingual seniors depicted in the video, however, tell Mission Local that it\u2019s bogus. And they\u2019re mad.<\/p>\n

Over 60 percent<\/a> of the Californians who voted in the state\u2019s Nov. 4 special election cast their ballots in favor of Prop. 50, a high-profile measure<\/a> to gerrymander California\u2019s congressional map to add more seats for Democrats \u2014\u00a0a direct challenge to Trump\u2019s demand to gerrymander Democrats out of Congressional office in Republican-led states.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s two state assembly members, Catherine Stefani and Matt Haney.<\/p>\n

In the X video, Bess Byers, a digital media specialist<\/a> for the libertarian magazine, Reason, walks past the group of seniors \u2014 without talking to them \u2014\u00a0and follows Stefani towards City Hall, asking them repeatedly whether they would support Prop. 50 if Republicans were in favor of it. \u201cWe would love for Republicans to push for Prop 50,\u201d says Stefani. \u201cBut they\u2019re not. So your question makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this, Byers changes the subject, \u201cI have the footage of you guys leading a bunch of Asian Americans to the voting poll ,\u201d Byers says. \u201cI speak<\/a> Chinese. None of them know what they\u2019re voting for. You don\u2019t think that\u2019s weird? Is that even legal?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d 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: \u201c\u2018Do you speak English?\u2019\u201d Frankie Falzon, Stefani\u2019s district director, said that aside from the one sentence in Mandarin, Byers kept asking the seniors questions like \u201cDo you know what you are voting for?\u201d in English.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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, \u201c\u2018Does anyone here know what Prop. 50 is about?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They did: \u201cThey told me that they believe Democrats are more supportive of grassroots interests, so supporting Democrats means supporting their own interests.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Huang described Byers as \u201caggressive\u201d and said she \u201ckept questioning the seniors in English the whole time. The seniors didn\u2019t understand English and didn\u2019t respond at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are even more afraid when people ask questions in English, because if it gets published in English, they have no way to refute,\u201d added Huang.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Byers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stefani responded with a statement that \u201cWhat we are seeing online is racism, plain and simple,\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Huang, who has covered and supported local Chinese seniors<\/a> for years, said it is self-evident that these seniors have their own political views, especially when the issue affects their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before returning their ballots, the group was filmed<\/a> chanting in English, \u201c50 ballots, 50 yes, we will take the Congress back,\u201d and a similar slogan in Chinese.<\/p>\n

Lau, one of the seniors present on Friday, said he was at City Hall because, \u201cStefani shared our views, so we supported her.\u201d As for why the seniors didn\u2019t talk back to Byers, Lau had an answer for that too, \u201cShe didn\u2019t respect us. So of course we ignored her.\u201d<\/p>\n

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