In the final days of the presidential election, lies have been widely spread on social media about non-citizen voting, the vulnerability of mail-in ballots and the security of voting machines.
Election disinformation fueled by former President Donald Trump and prominent allies such as tech mogul Elon Musk is distorting voters’ faith in the integrity of the democratic process and once again setting the stage for potential civil unrest if the GOP candidate fails to act to win the presidency, polls show. At the same time, federal officials are investigating current Russian interference by social media and covert disinformation campaigns.
The “fire hose” of misinformation is performing as expected, said Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group advocating for the responsible operate of technology in elections.
“This issue is designed to sow widespread distrust,” she said. “Your most trusted source isn’t your friend’s cousin’s uncle you saw on Twitter. He’s the local election official. Don’t repeat this. Check instead.”
As early voting continues, local officials like Travis Doss in Augusta, Georgia, say they are fighting a losing battle against rapidly spreading rumors on social media.
Doss, executive director of the Richmond County Board of Elections, said many voters in his county don’t believe absentee ballots are being counted correctly. Many people believe that election officials choose which ballots to count based on the district from which they are sent, or that voting machines can be easily hacked.
In recent weeks, Doss himself heard a rumor that a local preacher had ordered his entire congregation to register to vote again because the preacher had heard – falsely – that they had all been removed from the voter rolls.
“Somebody hears something and then they say it to other people and it’s the worst game of intercom that has ever existed,” Doss said. “It’s very difficult to correct all the misinformation because there are so many things we don’t even know about.”
As early voting began in Georgia in mid-October, Doss had to remind some voters that polling place workers would be monitoring the polling place and voting equipment throughout the day to make sure no one interfered with the voting process. He noted that the tabulation machines are not connected to the Internet and have not been hacked. He also had to emphasize that the ballot boxes were sealed and secured.
The amount of misinformation spreading across the country it’s huge.
College students in Wisconsin were targeted using text messages designed to intimidate them into not voting even if they are eligible. The Michigan State Police had to do it normal rumors that people were illegally tampering with voting machines in one of the constituencies, when in fact the devices for tattooing ballots were tested by two employees of the official’s office. Fraudsters posing as election officials I called Michigan voters say they must provide their credit card number and Social Security number to vote early.
“To protect our democracy, we must address the disinformation and misinformation that is spreading rapidly,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP.
Constant lies
Musk, owner of the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), has consumed a slew of common election-related conspiracy theories. At Trump’s recent rally in Pennsylvania, he lied he insinuated that voting machines designed by Dominion Voting Systems could steal this election from Trump. Dominion successfully sued Fox News and other companies for promoting this lie after the 2020 election.
Last month Musk sent that Democrats are expediting citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally so the party can gain a lasting electoral advantage. Journalists, exactly refuted his claim. In an attempt to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment to motivate voters to the polls, Trump and his allies have been saying for months lie that foreigners vote en masse.
Musk shared a false claim regarding widespread voter fraud in Wisconsin County during the 2020 election. Target jurisdiction, Henrico County, posted a thread on X correcting Musk’s claims with data. Musk too strengthened the claim that Michigan’s voter rolls were filled with inactive voters and ripe for fraud. Top government officials he had to fight back also these false claims.
“The most dangerous and effective thing is the ‘Forward’ button,” said Jay Young, senior director of voting and democracy at Common Cause, a national voting rights group that has a social media monitoring program that tracks misinformation online.
Beyond Musk’s posts about X, misinformation was rampant.
The American Sunlight Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that combats misinformation and is run by the former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s disinformation team, published report this month on the scope of the problem. The report found that nearly 1,200 possibly automated X accounts were spreading Russian propaganda and pro-Trump disinformation about the presidential election.
American spy agencies be careful The Kremlin is actively pushing election disinformation this year.
Nearly half of Republican Party candidates running for top state offices or Congress are questioning the integrity of this year’s elections, mostly via social media, survey finds analysis by the Washington Post. Many of the candidates’ posts contain lies.
The constant lies about election integrity have consequences: This year, state and local election officials have been bombarded with threats and harassment, and confidence in elections has plummeted.
According to October’s NPR/PBS News/Marist votemore than 3 in 4 Americans are confident or very confident that state and local agencies will conduct fair and precise elections.
Still, 58% of Americans say they are concerned or very concerned about the possibility of voter fraud this year. Among Republicans surveyed, 86% are concerned about fraud, while 55% of independents and 33% of Democrats have similar concerns.
How officials react
Over the past four years of going to town hall meetings and other community events throughout Oconto County, Wisconsin, on Green Bay’s western shore, County Clerk Kim Pytleski has repeatedly heard from voters who say that because their preferred candidate did not win in 2020 ., there must be something wrong with the electoral process.
Presented by conspiracy theories, Pytleski, a Republican, not only tells voters they are wrong; asks where the voter got this information and then walks the voter through the specific problem, providing details about the voting process.
One issue that comes up often: the number of absentee ballot applications that voters receive in the mail. Many residents believe the applications are real ballots that can be marked and returned.
Voters will argue that because so many ballots were mailed, there was voter fraud, she added. Pytleski had to explain that these were proposals and came from political parties and other groups. A voter can only receive one ballot from her office, she will inform them.
“And once we explained it, for the most part people said, ‘OK, that makes sense.’ I understand,” she said in an interview in August.
Touching her heart with her right hand and raising her hand to the sky, Pytleski declared that she is a committed member of the Republican Party, like most voters in the district. But going to these meetings and feeling voters’ suspicions was a challenge for her. She was even called a liar to her face.
“I walk into a room that doesn’t seem very friendly and I have to remind them that this is the girl who was on the bus with your kids, this is the girl who grew up in the house next door,” she said. “My name means something to me, so I would never do anything to jeopardize that or the trial itself.”
Misinformation can arise when local election offices make an error, whether it’s a misprint on a ballot, a power outage at a polling place, or something else.
Lisa Posthumus Lyons, a Republican Party official in Kent County, Michigan, regularly reminds voters that elections are conducted by humans and humans make mistakes, but there are checks and balances in place to ensure elections are secure and crystal clear, she said.
An ornate sign on her desk reminds her, “Serve the Lord with Joy.” She said she hoped voters would share her optimism and faith in the system.
“Their rights will be protected, their votes will be counted, the elections will be accurate and fair, and we will have a good day,” she said. “Whatever comes our way, we will be ready for it. It’s that simple.”
In addition to listening to local election officials, voters can rely on election protection hotlines run by experts and democracy advocates, said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a national legal group.
The commission is one of many voting rights groups in the coalition led by the 866-OUR-VOTE party hotline this election season. The groups run similar hotlines for people who speak Spanish, Arabic and about 10 Asian languages.
Hewitt said voters can call through all hotlines with questions or concerns about access or election procedures.
“We deal with it not only when a problem arises, but also try to get ahead of it,” he said. “We are here to help them every step of the way.”
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