How crowdsourced voting fraud claims may affect the election : NPR

As voting day approaches, more and more users on social media are looking for evidence of election fraud. Some of these baseless claims are poised to become the heart of a Republican lawsuit challenging the outcome if former President Donald Trump loses.

One of the hubs of these efforts is the Election Integrity Community on X (formerly Twitter), founded by owner Elon Musk’s super PAC, which urges users to ” “Please share any incidents of voter fraud or potential fraud.” ”

The feed is full of unconfirmed claims and rumors. A video of a Republican poll watcher suggesting — incorrectly — that ineligible non-citizens could vote by showing their driver’s license has been viewed more than 1 million times. Other users became suspicious when election officials told them to put their ballots in drop boxes, which has been the subject of baseless conspiracy theories since 2020. There has been a surge in posts claiming that voting machines are flipping votes in states such as Georgia. Georgia Secretary of State And the manufacturer debunked it.

“What we’re seeing is… some kind of intentional miscommunication, and people are [who are] They are already skeptical about whether the election can be trusted, and in some cases have been told by some of their favorite candidates that the results cannot be trusted unless that candidate wins.” Professor Kate Starbird said. Washington and co-founder of the Center for Informants, which tracks election rumors.

Virus false claims could lead to lawsuits

Starbird said evidence of fraud was also being collected in the 2020 election, but this time the material is ready to be used by those who might challenge the election results.

“We are prepared to take these rumors, misconceptions, misconceptions, turn them into affidavits on Election Day or days after, and try to use them to contest whether or not certain votes are counted in certain locations. “There are lawyers out there…or trying to use them to try to pressure election officials and others not to certify the results,” Starbird said.

One of the most prominent narratives circulating this year, researchers and election officials say, is the unsubstantiated claim that non-citizens are voting or are allowed to vote in federal elections, which is extremely dangerous. They say it gives Democrats an unfair advantage in what is expected to be a close election.

Election law experts say these baseless claims have emerged as a major focus of Republican efforts to pave the way for Trump to contest the election results if he loses. Countries cite this as a justification for trying to remove people from their lists. Thousands of voters in Alabama were ensnared by these efforts, according to court records. voters in texas and Virginia were also removed, but the total number affected is not yet clear.

It is not only the votes of naturalized citizens that are being challenged by baseless claims. Far-right media outlet Gateway Pundit claimed that the methods used by some military personnel and Americans living abroad to vote were vulnerable to hacking. accused Democrats trying to fabricate votes using overseas ballots.

Those rumors also surfaced in 2020 and were proven false. The video Gateway critics cited as evidence was actually part of an Iranian influence operation called out by the Justice Department in 2021.

But President Trump recently reiterated: false claims on his Truth Social platform. Republicans have filed a lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of some votes cast by Americans living overseas, but the lawsuits have been unsuccessful.

Misunderstand real-life events and view routine work as suspicious

Many other false narratives about voting have also been recycled from past years. Rumors have been circulating on social media in recent days that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems are flipping votes. The company was the target of conspiracy theories in 2020, ultimately paying a $787 million settlement for defamation by Fox News, and had multiple ongoing lawsuits.

In posts criticizing the company, posters, friends and relatives claim they were able to vote as they wished after discovering their machine-printed ballots did not match their chosen candidates. .

However, even though voters were able to choose their preferred candidate, prominent figures such as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor GreeneR-Ga., who has regularly repeated conspiratorial rhetoric, continued to amplify accusations that Dominion machines may be changing votes.

In a statement to NPR, Dominion Voting Systems said its machines do not change votes; the page on it This website features common rumors about the company under the title “Setting the Record Straight.”

A voter drops a ballot into a ballot drop box at the Maricopa County Counting and Elections Center in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 23, 2024. Concerns about ballot drop boxes have resurfaced as both parties tell their supporters to vote early.

Olivier Turon/AFP via Getty Images

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Olivier Turon/AFP via Getty Images

Other easily dispelled falsehoods quickly spread. Cliff Maloney, a Republican activist who organizes door knockers to get Pennsylvania Republicans to vote early, said one of his contacts had identified 53 voters. registered in a monastery No one lived in Erie County, the contact claimed. In fact, the fire at the convent, where more than 50 nuns lived, was quickly extinguished. response Correcting the claim, CNN spoke With sisters who are registered voters on the list.

However, Maloney’s reaction to the fact-checking further strengthened his case. He wrote to X that it was “wrong”. Musk, the site’s owner, expanded on Maloney’s original claims, but there is no evidence that he shared his fact-checking.

Ignoring the checks and remedies in place is also a common theme among those seeking to cast doubt on the election results, the University of Washington researchers said in their paper. September blog post.

High tension causes high alertness

Concerns about the ballot box have also resurfaced as both parties urge their supporters to vote early. Drop boxes were set on fire in three states. Starbird noted that rumors surrounding the incidents are starting to spread, but said these incidents, like isolated incidents of ballot theft, miss the larger point.

“While this is very problematic for individuals, it is unlikely to change the outcome of the election,” she said, noting that one of the rhetorical strategies of election deniers is to exaggerate the impact of events.

Starbird wonders what impact the constant vigilance against voter fraud is having in a country steeped in years of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. I am concerned about this. This worldview is embraced by many Republicans and undermines the confidence of many Americans to vote.

“The biggest thing this can do is quickly identify problems and help election officials resolve them, and that’s what we want,” she says. “The worst thing that happens is that these things get caught up in this kind of false narrative. [them] And people start to lose trust in the process. ”

And that “could distract election officials and election officials from the real issue,” Starbird said.