Ahead of the November 5 US election, confusing assertions, blatant lies and rumours about voting and fraud have swamped social media and various online spaces in staggering numbers.
Several incidents involving alleged voting irregularities are being amassed and spread by individuals, independent and Republican-allied groups, with a small number of posts also coming from Democrats too.
In addition, the US government also claimed that foreign actors, including Russia, were spreading fake videos to hinder confidence in the electoral process.
This proliferation of misinformation being spread online has posed a significant challenge to election officials are tasked with debunking rumours and reassuring voters, even as they make preparations to administer election day on Tuesday.
A lot of the posts claiming election irregularities support the Trump campaign’s false claim that the former president had won the 2020 election and have now repeatedly made suggestions that he will potentially be cheated out of victory again on election day – 5 November.
When Donald Trump was asked during the presidential debate in September if he will accept the 2024 election result, he said he would if it was a “fair and legal and good election”.
An unsurprising statement in the U.S where majority of Americans (at least 70%) expect him to reject the result if he loses, according to a CNN/SSRS poll released on Monday.
Quite recently, Trump himself made allegations of a widespread fraud in a key swing state – Pennsylvania.
“Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before. REPORT CHEATING TO AUTHORITIES. Law Enforcement must act, NOW!” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
The allegation had come after officials in three Pennsylvania counties announced they were working with the local law enforcement to probe some voter registration applications for potential fraud.
While Trump and allies harped on the announcements, the state’s top election official, Republican Al Schmidt, cautioned everyone, warning voters to be aware of “half-truths” and misinformation making rounds on social media.
The BBC has reported seeing hundreds of allegations of election fraud online, on social networks and on message boards and in chat groups. Some of these false posts have been viewed millions of times each.
The posts have claimed it’s easy for non-citizens to vote, made false assertions about voting machines and sowed seeds of distrust in the ballot-counting process.
This has led experts to fret over the burst of misinformation going round just before election day, saying it could undermine people’s trust in the results – or even lead to threats and violence in the lead-up to the election and afterwards.
After-all, it’s happened before in the 2020 elections.
After the 2020 election, several court cases claiming election fraud were lodged by Trump’s team across multiple states, but none of them had been fruitful.
The spread of misinformation in the U.S elections can’t be complete without acknowledging a network of groups that crowdsource them.
Groups like the Texas-based True The Vote, established in 2009, have long been on the forefront of questioning election security.
True the Vote had even developed an app called VoteAlert where supporters are free to post examples of alleged election irregularities.
From this, they have collected a wide range of claims, from minor security oversights to claims of deliberate vote tampering. The group also has people monitoring live-streamed cameras that have been pointed on ballot drop boxes in a number of states.
Several local officials have continuously outlined the steps they have taken to make the boxes secure.
Additionally, several other groups have asked its supporters to report alleged irregularities.
Similarly, Elon Musk’s America political action committee also started a community – akin to a message board – on X, filled with propaganda and allegations about voting. With 50,000 members, several posts go up every minute, almost around the clock with no fact-checks.
Other efforts include the Election Integrity Network, a group established by a former Trump lawyer which challenged voter registrations while recruiting poll watchers (partisan observers who attend polling places).
The volume of messages on these platforms – along with the ambiguity of some of them which often come from anonymous sources – makes it almost impossible to verify each allegation.
However, the groups (and the Trump campaign) have said that these efforts are entirely meant to ensure the integrity of the vote.
The effect of this whole misinformation tactic is unpredictable.
But the Department of Homeland Security had in a memo reported on by US outlets including the BBC’s partner CBS, said on Monday that election conspiracy theories could incite action by domestic extremists.
Political observers also expect the wave of misinformation to continue well beyond election day. Polls have even suggested that this election will be among the closest in modern US history and that it may take days to count all the votes and announce the winner.
