“Firehose” of election conspiracy theories flood the final days of the campaign • Kansas Reflector

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

Backed by former President Donald Trump and prominent allies such as tech mogul Elon Musk, election disinformation is undermining voter 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 to deliver. succeed. win the presidency. At the same time, federal officials are investigating ongoing Russian interference by social media and shadowy disinformation campaigns.

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

“This issue is designed to sow general distrust,” she said. “Your best source of confidence isn’t your friend’s cousin’s uncle you saw on Twitter. It’s your local election official. Don’t repeat. Check it out instead.”

With early voting underway, local officials like Travis Doss of Augusta, Ga., say they’re fighting a losing battle against the fast-moving 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 counted correctly. Many believe that election officials choose which ballots to count based on the district they are sent from, or that voting machines are easy to hack.

In recent weeks, Doss himself has heard a rumor that a local preacher told his entire congregation to register to vote again because the preacher had heard — falsely — that everyone had been removed from the voter registration rolls.

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

As early voting began in mid-October in Georgia, Doss had to remind some voters that poll workers would be watching the polling station and election equipment throughout the day, making sure no one tampered with the process. He noted that the tabulating machines are not connected to the Internet and are not hacked. He also had to point out that the ballot boxes were sealed and secure.

The amount of misinformation being spread across the country it is huge.

Wisconsin students were CONCERNED with text messages designed to intimidate them from voting, even when they are eligible. The Michigan State Police had to correct rumors that people were illegally tampering with voting machines in a precinct, when in fact there were two office workers testing the ballot tabulation devices. Fraudsters posing as election officials they called Michigan voters claim they must provide credit card and social security numbers to vote early.

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

Lies in progress

Musk, the owner of the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), is tired of a lot of common election conspiracy theories. At a recent Trump rally in Pennsylvania, he falsely insinuated that voting machines designed by Dominion Voting Systems could steal this election from Trump. Dominion successfully sued Fox News and others for promoting this lie after the 2020 election.

Last month, Musk POSTED that Democrats are fast-tracking citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally so that the party can gain a permanent electoral advantage. The journalists did it thoroughly disappointed his claim. Trying to drum up anti-immigrant sentiment to motivate voters to the polls, Trump and his allies have repeated for months lie that non-citizens vote en masse.

Musk shared a false claim about widespread voter fraud in a Wisconsin county in the 2020 election. Jurisdiction targeted, Henrico County, posted a thread on X correcting Musk’s claims with data. Musk too amplified a claim that Michigan’s voter rolls were full of inactive voters primed for fraud. High state officials he had to reject and 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 misinformation online.

Beyond Musk’s posts, misinformation thrived on X.

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

American spy agencies credit The Kremlin is actively promoting election disinformation this year.

And nearly half of Republican candidates running for top state or congressional offices have questioned the integrity of this year’s election, primarily through social media, according to a analysis by The Washington Post. Many of the candidates’ posts include lies.

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

According to an October NPR/PBS News/Marist POLLmore than 3 in 4 Americans remain confident or very confident that state and local agencies will conduct fair and accurate elections.

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

How officials respond

Over the past four years attending town hall meetings and other community events in Oconto County, Wis., on Green Bay’s west shore, County Clerk Kim Pytleski has repeatedly heard from voters who say that because their preferred candidate he didn’t win in 2020. , there must be something wrong with the electoral process.

Presented with conspiracy theories, Pytleski, a Republican, isn’t just telling voters they’re wrong; she asks where the voter got that information and then explains it through specific concern with step-by-step details of the voting process.

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

Voters will claim that if so many ballots were sent out, there must be voter fraud, she said. Pytleski had to explain that these were applications and that they came from political parties and other groups. Voters can get one ballot from her office, she will tell them.

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

Touching his right hand to his heart and raising his hand to the sky, Pytleski said he is a dedicated member of the Republican Party, as are most voters in the county. But it was a challenge for her to go to those meetings and feel the suspicion of voters. She was even called a liar to her face.

“I walk into a room that doesn’t feel so friendly and I have to remind them that this is the girl who walked 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 to jeopardize that or the actual process.”

Misinformation can occur after local election offices make a mistake in some way, whether it was a misprint on a ballot, a power outage at a polling place, or something else.

Lisa Posthumus Lyons, the Republican county clerk for Kent County, Michigan, regularly reminds voters that elections are run by people and that people make mistakes, but that there are checks and balances to make sure elections remain safe and transparent, she said.

On her desk, a decorative sign reminds her to “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 election will be fair and just, and we will have a good day,” she said. “Whatever comes up, we’ll be ready for it. It’s as simple as that.”

Beyond listening to local election officials, voters can rely on election protection hotlines run by experts and pro-democracy advocates, said Damon Hewitt, president and chief executive of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a national advocacy group. legal advocacy.

The committee is one of many voting rights groups in a coalition that runs 866-OUR-VOTE the hot line this election season. The groups have similar phone lines for people who speak Spanish, Arabic and about 10 Asian languages.

With all the phone lines, Hewitt said, voters can call with questions or concerns about their access or election procedures.

“This is something we look at not just when there’s a problem, but it’s something we try to overcome,” he said. “We’re there to help guide them every step of the way.”

Stateline, a State Newsroom affiliate, produced this story.