‘Fire hose’ of election conspiracy theories engulfs final days of campaign • Ohio Capital Journal

In the final days of the presidential election, lies about non-citizen voting, the fragility of mail-in ballots, and the security of voting machines are spreading widely on social media.

Fueled by former President Donald Trump and notable allies like tech mogul Elon Musk, election disinformation is distorting voters’ confidence in the integrity of the democratic process, polls show, and once again setting the stage for potential public unrest if the Republican nominee fails manages to do this. win the presidency. At the same time, federal officials are investigating in progress Russian interference social media and shadow disinformation campaigns.

The “firehose” of disinformation is working as intended, says Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group that advocates for the responsible use of technology in elections.

“This issue is intended to sow widespread distrust,” she said. “Your best trusted source is not the uncle of your friend’s cousin you saw on Twitter. It’s your local election official. Don’t repeat it. Check it instead.”

With early voting underway, local officials like Travis Doss in Augusta, Georgia, say they are fighting a losing battle against rapidly advancing social media rumors.

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 think election officials choose which ballots to count based on the neighborhood they are sent to, or that voting machines can be easily hacked.

In recent weeks, Doss himself heard a rumor that a local pastor had ordered his entire congregation to re-register to vote because the pastor had heard – incorrectly – that everyone had been removed from the voter registration system.

“Someone hears something and then they tell people, and it’s the worst phone tag game ever,” Doss said. “It’s so hard to correct all the misinformation because there are so many things we don’t even know about.”

When early voting began in Georgia in mid-October, Doss had to remind some voters that poll workers would be monitoring the polling place and election equipment all day to ensure no one tampered with the process. He noted that the tabulation machines are not connected to the Internet nor are they being hacked. He also had to emphasize that the ballot boxes were sealed and secure.

The amount of misinformation spreading throughout the country is huge.

Students in Wisconsin have been focused with text messages designed to intimidate them into not voting, even if they are eligible. The Michigan State Police had to correct rumors that voting machines were being unlawfully tampered with in one district, when in fact it was two clerks who tested the voting machines. Scammers posing as election officials have called Voters in Michigan claim they must provide their credit card and Social Security numbers to vote early.

“To protect our democracy, we must address the misinformation and disinformation that is spreading like wildfire,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP.

Persistent lies

Musk, the owner of the social media platform He falsely lied at a recent Trump rally in Pennsylvania insinuated that voting machines designed by Dominion Voting Systems could steal this election from Trump. Dominion successfully sued Fox News and others for promoting that lie after the 2020 election.

Last month, Musk posted that Democrats expedite citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally so that the party can gain a permanent electoral advantage. Journalists have done that thoroughly debunked his claim. In an effort to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment to draw voters to the polls, Trump and his allies have repeated this for months. the lie that non-citizens vote en masse.

Musk shared a false claim about widespread voter fraud in a Wisconsin county in the 2020 election. The targeted jurisdiction, Henrico County, placed a wire about X correcting Musk’s claims with data. Musk too a claim strengthens that Michigan’s voter rolls were full of inactive voters and ripe for fraud. Top state officials had to refute also those false claims.

“The most dangerous and effective thing is that retweet 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 online misinformation.

In addition to Musk’s posts, misinformation flourished on X.

The American Sunlight Project, a Washington DC-based nonprofit organization that combats misinformation and is led by the former head of a US Department of Homeland Security disinformation team, has released a report this month about the extent of the problem. The report shows that nearly 1,200 likely automated accounts on X are spreading Russian propaganda and pro-Trump disinformation about the presidential election.

US spy agencies to believe the Kremlin is actively encouraging election disinformation this year.

And nearly half of Republican candidates running for top state offices or Congress have questioned the integrity of this year’s election, mostly through social media, according to a survey. analysis by The Washington Post. Many of the candidates’ messages contain untruths.

Persistent lies about election integrity have consequences: State and local election officials have been bombarded with threats and intimidation this year, and confidence in elections has plummeted.

According to an October NPR/PBS News/Marist pollmore than three in four Americans remain certain or very certain that state and local agencies will conduct fair and accurate elections.

Still, 58% of Americans say they are concerned or very concerned that voter fraud will occur this year. Of Republicans surveyed, 86% are concerned about fraud, while 55% of independents and 33% of Democrats have a similar fear.

How officials respond

Over the past four years of going to town hall meetings and other community events in Oconto County, Wisconsin, on the western shore of Green Bay, County Clerk Kim Pytleski has repeatedly heard from voters who said so because their preferred candidate didn’t win in 2020. there must be something wrong with the election process.

Faced with conspiracy theories, Pytleski, a Republican, isn’t just telling voters they’re wrong; she asks where the voter got that information, and then walks them through the specific issue with step-by-step details about the voting process.

One concern that often comes up: the number of absentee ballot applications voters receive in the mail. Many residents believe the applications are actual ballots that can be marked and returned.

Voters will argue that if so many ballots are mailed out, there must be election fraud, she said. Pytleski had to explain that these were requests and that they came from political parties and other groups. Voters can only receive one ballot from her office, she will tell them.

“And once we’ve explained that for the most part, people say, ‘Okay, that makes sense.’ I understand that,” she said during an interview in August.

Touching her right hand to her heart and raising her hand to heaven, Pytleski said she is a committed member of the Republican Party, as are most voters in the county. But it was a challenge for her to go to those rallies and feel the voters’ suspicions. She is even called a liar to her face.

“I walk into a room that doesn’t feel super friendly, and I have to remind them that this is the girl who rode the bus route with your kids, this is the girl who grew up in that house down the road,” she said. “My name means something to me, so I would never do anything that would compromise that or the actual process.”

Misinformation can arise after local election offices make a mistake in some way, whether it’s a printing error on a ballot, a power outage at a polling place, or something else.

Lisa Posthumus Lyons, the Republican registrar of Kent County, Michigan, regularly reminds voters that elections are run by people and people make mistakes, but there are checks and balances in place to ensure elections remain secure and transparent, said them.

On her desk, a decorative sign reminds her, “Serve the Lord with joy.” She said she hopes voters will share her optimism and confidence 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 arises, we will be ready. It’s that simple.”

In addition to listening to local election officials, voters can also 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 advocacy group.

The committee is one of several voting rights groups in a coalition leading 866-OUR-VOTE hotline this election season. The groups run similar hotlines for people who speak Spanish, Arabic and about a dozen Asian languages.

All hotlines, Hewitt said, allow voters to call with questions or concerns about their access or about election procedures.

“This is something we not only pay attention to when there is a problem, but it is something we try to anticipate,” he said. “We are here to help them every step of the way.”

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