ATLANTA (AP) — Claims of voting machines flipping votes, more registered voters than eligible citizens, and large numbers of noncitizens casting ballots have resurfaced just weeks before Election Day.
With less than two weeks to go, state and local election officials are once again battling a surge of conspiracy theories and misinformation. While managing early voting and preparing for the November 5th election, these officials are also dedicating significant time to dispelling false rumors and educating the public about how elections are actually conducted.
“Truth can seem dull, facts can be unexciting, but outrage is captivating,” says Utah’s Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican overseeing her state’s elections. “Debunking misinformation is like playing whack-a-mole with the truth, but we work hard to share accurate information.”
This election marks the first presidential contest since former President Donald Trump began spreading false claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020, alleging that it cost him his re-election. These baseless claims, which Trump continues to promote, have eroded public trust in elections, particularly among Republican voters. Multiple investigations have found no evidence of widespread fraud or voting machine tampering in the 2020 election, and battleground states where Trump contested the results reaffirmed President Joe Biden’s victory.
In the past week, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed a voting machine had altered a voter’s ballot during early voting in Georgia, while billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, has amplified conspiracy theories about voting machines and voter fraud both online and at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania.
The floodgates of misinformation are “very much” open, said David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer and current leader of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a nonpartisan group supporting state and local election officials.
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