Fault

• In certain circles, the 2020 presidential election isn’t over – and that seems to be at least a little bit true.
• In recent weeks, official reviews of election records and processes from the 2020 presidential election have reported findings that might be used to spread rumors about voting integrity.
• For instance, election officials in Virginia’s Prince William County announced on Jan. 11, 2024, that 4,000 votes from the 2020 presidential election had been miscounted.
• Death reports and prison inmate rolls can help them determine who should remain eligible to voter and who should be removed from voting lists, the report said.

1. Changing numbers are evidence of transparency, not fraud

• “(T)his doesn’t mean the system is ‘rigged.’ Actually, it means the system is transparent to a fault,” she wrote.
• Read more:
  How votes are counted in Pennsylvania: Changing numbers are a sign of transparency, not fraud, during an ongoing process

2. Easier voting is not a threat to election integrity

• Erecting obstacles to voting will not prevent the problems that do exist in the election system, for the simple reason that the flaws are not a result of easier voting methods, such as early voting and voting by mail.
• Grinnell College political scientist Douglas R. Hess observed that the COVID-19 pandemic was a massive test of whether a secure election could be held with a lot of accommodations that made voting easier, and safer from the spread of disease.
• Likewise, the collection of absentee ballots – a necessity for some voters – can be implemented securely.”

  Read more:
  Making it easier to vote does not threaten election integrity

3. It’s possible for election workers to be both partisan and fair-minded

• For many years, elections have been run by people who were members of one political party or the other but behaved in good faith to run fair elections, wrote Thom Reilly, a scholar at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs.
• Yet, he wrote,
  “(W)idespread misinformation and disinformation on election administration is hobbling the ability of election officials to do their job and has created fertile ground for mistrust.”
  “(W)idespread misinformation and disinformation on election administration is hobbling the ability of election officials to do their job and has created fertile ground for mistrust.”

  Read more:
  Good faith and the honor of partisan election officials used to be enough to ensure trust in voting results – but not anymore

4. Beware those who aim to confuse or mislead

• Situations to watch out for are those in which “lack of understanding and certainty can fuel doubt, fan misinformation and provide opportunities for those seeking to delegitimize the results,” they wrote.
• Specifically, look out for:
  “Politically motivated individuals (who) are likely to cherry-pick and assemble these pieces of digital "evidence” to fit narratives that seek to undermine trust in the results.
• Read more:
  5 types of misinformation to watch out for while ballots are being counted – and after

  This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.