Early election ballots are passed through ballot and signature verifiers at Utah County elections offices in Provo, Utah, on Friday.
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Early election ballots are passed through ballot and signature verifiers at Utah County elections offices in Provo, Utah, on Friday.
George Frey / AFP via Getty Images
As Election Day approaches and rhetoric and opposition grow, it’s worth remembering the wise and immortal words of Smokey the Bear: “Only you can stop wildfires.” That’s because anyone who goes online and shares information plays some role in shaping whether falsehoods are attracted.
Now you might ask, “But I’m just one person – what about Twitter? What about Facebook? What about politicians with huge followings who are always spreading lies and claims misleading?”
It is true that our society and many others around the world are facing what some researchers call “truth decay”. Bad actors can and do games on social networks and traditional media to flood the area with conspiracy theories that sometimes promote violent and extremism agenda.
But over the past decade or so, the way people consume information has radically changed thanks to social media. And you, the user, have some influence over the algorithms that provide you with the posts, videos, and news stories in your feed.
With that in mind, here are some things to consider when sharing all kinds of news, but especially election news.
Look at the source
This is probably the most important thing. How does the person who posted this story know what’s going on? Was it an election official explaining the process? Was it a reporter from a trusted news organization on the ground? Is it an account or a news outlet you’ve never heard of before? This is a puzzle from the Nonprofit Literacy Project that you can do to help assess whether a news source is trustworthy.
Relying on local election officials and local journalists who know the details of how people in your community vote will often yield better quality information, such as polls. Random Twitter account with a large following. Elections officials are especially important in helping to explain changing election procedures and how ballots are collected and counted, as opposed to political candidates, who may try to turn copy or exaggerate what is happening.
If you find a piece of news going viral that seems surprising or different in some way, you should check to see if other news outlets are reporting the same thing. Are they self-confirming the news or merely ascribing it to another source? Is the source being allocated reliable?
The speed of election results may reflect different rules
Elections in the United States are very decentralized. That is both the strength and the weakness of our democracy. Election rules and procedures vary from state to state and sometimes even county to county. Some states allow ballots received before Election Day to be processed in advance, sometimes even pre-counted. Others leave the processing and tally of mailed ballots until the polls are over. Local election officials explained their counting process in advance and tried to set voters’ expectations about the speed with which the results were released.
Want your vote included in the first round results at 8pm on election night? Remember to drop off your early ballot at the Vote Center by Saturday! Find the most convenient drop box location at https://t.co/8YEmXbWyRL. pic.twitter.com/gq4JiGmlw3
– Maricopa County Elections (@MaricopaVote) November 3, 2022
Results can also vary significantly throughout election night depending on which ballot is counted first. With Republicans increasingly focused on voting in person on Election Day, while many Democrats vote early or by mail, the outcome can vary from party to party. depending on the tabulated lot of votes. That’s not a sign that the results have been tampered with, just a sign that the way people vote has become polarized and with it, how the results come.
Many voters watch election night television on TV and get the impression that TV networks have some role to play in determining the outcome when they make race calls. Measure is not true. What the networks are actually doing is making predictions about winners based on public vote counting results released by state and local election officials. State elections officials are the only ones to officially declare a winner in a process that can take days or weeks after Election Day.
NPR relies on the Associated Press for vote-counting data and uses that organization’s race calls. AP said it made the call only when it is “completely confident a race has been won – most simply defined as the point at which a trailing candidate has no path to victory.”
Be careful with what photos and videos want to show
You may see photos and videos that allege misconduct or a serious injustice. Find the difference between what the post says you’re watching and what the video or photo actually shows. Often, a photo or video is grainy, exaggerated, or completely unclear. Sometimes reverse image search will reveal that the painting is old or from another country! In many cases, there is no evidence in the post or allegation that supports the premise that someone is voting illegally, mishandling a ballot, or being denied the right to vote.
In reality, a recent documentary style movie alleged widespread fraud in 2020 used a still image of a man voting in a drop box in Georgia to claim that the man illegally voted. In fact, the man voted legally and sue the filmmakers for defamation.
Documented cases of voter fraud are extremely rare
The 2020 election is the most scrutinized election in US history. Had dozens of federal and state lawsuits challenged various aspects of how elections were conducted and, in some cases, claimed organized election fraud. None of those claims are corroborated. None of the suits led to changes in the outcome of the election.
Most cases of vote and election fraud tend to involve an extremely small number of ballots and are quickly identified. The most significant election fraud case of the past 40 years took place in Bladen County, NC, in 2018 when the state refused to certify the results of a race for the United States House of Representatives after investigators revealed that a political agency working for the Republican candidate mishandled a significant number of absentee ballots he collected. The result of that contest is called a question within a few weeks of Election Day.
Even the most extensive database of electoral fraud cases collected by conservatives Heritage Foundation shows about 750 recorded cases of voter fraud involving approximately 1,100 people over the age of 40 and billions of ballots cast. Many election researchers question the organization’s methodologywhich they consider to be too extensive.
An election worker processes ballots by mail at the Orange County Registrar of Voters on October 27 in Santa Ana, Calif.
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An election worker processes ballots by mail at the Orange County Registrar of Voters on October 27 in Santa Ana, Calif.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
Election Officers Are Your Neighbors
The people at your polling station and the people who process and count the votes live in your city or county. Much volunteer or get paid relatively little. Many people work in understaffed offices. Many people do the work for them believe it’s important and work hard to be cautiously nonpartisan. Sharing material that names and accuses an election officer of illegal conduct could result in that person facing harassment, even death threats.
‘It turned my life upside down,’ said Georgia election worker Shaye Moss in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 uprising at the U.S. Capitol, referring to conspiracy theories targeting her and her mother, Ruby Freeman. “I don’t want anyone to know my name.”
Electors are human too and can make mistakes. But in today’s environment, a mistake of any kind can become fodder a conspiracy story.
If a news story gives you an emotional reaction, pause
Be able to react emotionally to the news! There are many things happening in the world that make many people uncomfortable.
But in our highly polarized society, many actors try to capitalize on tribal political identities. They share falsehoods and distortions that will provoke an emotional response and dampen the instinct to consider whether something might be true, or even plausible.
Don’t fall prey to their tactics.
When you come across such a story, take a deep breath and ask yourself if it is worth sharing and contributing to the wildfires on social media.
