Eyes on the U.S. Midterm Elections: Local Efforts to Protect Election Integrity
Written by Eliza Thompson
State election officials and community organizers are battling a multi-front war as the U.S. midterms approach, combating prevalent disinformation narratives around the 2020 presidential election while tackling new false narratives and voter suppression campaigns. Efforts to protect the integrity of election information come at a time when a majority of Americans believe that the country’s democracy is in crisis and at risk of failing. Rebuilding and maintaining trust will require sustained efforts at the local level, driven by community actors who innately understand cultural nuances and vulnerabilities. Read on to learn more about state and local efforts to address the narratives sowing distrust in the election system and counter the campaigns aimed at specific communities.
The issues officials are facing around election disinformation:
Election denialism is a key challenge for a smooth transition period post midterms, particularly within swing states such as Arizona and Colorado. While distrust of American politics is not new, today’s fractured media ecosystem heightens the problem. Home grown conspiracy theories converge with foreign state sponsored disinformation campaigns, and combined with social media, create a deluge of false or misleading information that can be overwhelming to address. This is further exacerbated by the highly lucrative nature of disinformation today. Take conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for example – with an estimated net worth between $135 million and $270 million, Jones has constructed a media empire built on discredited conspiracies. Jones has argued he is simply playing a character, highlighting the risk that individuals in the media may view themselves more as actors or celebrities than arbiters of truth, while their followers heed their lies to damaging effect.
State and local officials are also concerned about the targeting of first time voters and predominantly immigrant communities. A recent study by Media Matters found a campaign targeting Spanish speakers in the lead up to the midterm elections that is pushing 2020 election fraud conspiracies. Experts also recently identified election misinformation targeting Chinese speakers across platforms such as Twitter and YouTube around high impact issues such as mail-in ballots. These campaigns often seek to take advantage of information gaps in communities, aiming to decrease voting or prop up specific narratives in support of political goals. As such disinformation campaigns go hyper-local, so must efforts to address them.
Who’s doing what to address the issue?
State and local community efforts demonstrate the importance of community driven counter disinformation and civic engagement efforts. They also demonstrate the importance of using both technology and psychological resilience efforts to address disinformation. From using social listening tools to identify inaccurate information to implementing digital and in-person public information campaigns, a multi-dimensional approach to election integrity is critical to ensuring Americans enter the midterms with accurate information and leave with confidence in the voting process.
TrustInfo2022 is a bipartisan public education initiative that promotes election officials as trusted sources of election information. It features efforts to drive voters directly to officials’ websites and social media campaigns to help ensure voters get accurate information, aiming to minimize the impact of election disinformation. The initiative works with federal agencies and the private sector directly.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has also engaged in localized efforts as the midterms approach. They issued an election insider threat mitigation guide outlining the importance of upholding the integrity of the information environment surrounding elections. The guide highlights training and education efforts for election staff and volunteers as critical, as well as proactive and consistent communication with the public by election officials.
Local media outlets across the country are also engaging in collaborative efforts. One such project, called Gigafact, focuses on rapidly responding to claims that spread disinformation, attack election integrity, or intimidate voters. Participating news organization include Wisconsin Watch, the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, and the Nevada Independent.
Arizona
According to One Arizona – a coalition of 28 grassroots organizations across the state – there has been an uptick in disinformation across the state in the lead up to the midterms. Much of this disinformation is targeting Latino communities, which make up about one-quarter of the state’s registered voters. As the elections approach, grassroot organizers are holding outreach events for Latino communities to educate first time voters on how the election system works. They’re hosting music and cultural festivals, as well as running digital ads and working with influencers and content creators to engage young audiences.
Counties are also conducting their own counter disinformation efforts. After playing a central role in the rise of 2020 election conspiracy theories across the state, Maricopa County has been using brand sentiment analysis tools like Hootsuite and Brandwatch to track social media posts that raise concern. Questionable posts are flagged for review by a team that then looks to counter narratives before they take hold. Identifying false narratives early on provides the ability to react in real time, such as by tweeting out educational information. The team also analyzes content to see if it appears organic or part of a larger coordinated effort, such as a disinformation campaign by a foreign government. Depending on what is discovered, the team may warn law enforcement about potential kinetic threats or adjust firewalls to block activity from geographies from which they anticipate heightened cyber threats.
California
The Latino Community Foundation is providing funding to nonprofits across California to ramp up resources on the local level to counter disinformation and provide election information to communities from trustworthy sources, such as by directing people to the California Secretary of State’s voter registration website. These efforts aim to counter disinformation targeted at Latino communities across the state, such as around voter registration or where voting centers are located
As a broader attempt to counter election disinformation in the state, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new social media transparency measure in September that will require social media companies to publicly post their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment, and extremism on their platforms, and report data on their enforcement of their policies. The law aims to provide more meaningful transparency into how social media platforms are shaping U.S. public discourse and views on the democratic process.
Connecticut
Connecticut has built an information security team and has hired a chief information security analyst to identify and monitor misinformation related to the state election administration. The state first successfully trialed the position in 2020, during which time the specialist was able to quickly identify inaccurate statements, allowing the state to work with relevant authorities and social media platforms to remove the content.. In 2020, the state also implemented a public information campaign that employed a mix of traditional media and advertising, as well as content on social media and online gaming platforms, to share factual information on voting in the state. For the upcoming midterm elections, the state has spent $2 million on a similar campaign that targets specific communities with information on how to vote.
Colorado
The state is dealing with high-levels of election-related hate speech and skepticism, as well as a growing election denial movement that uses in-person canvassing to spread its messaging. Undertaken by organizations like the U.S. Election Integrity Plan, these canvassing efforts have led to confusion regarding the legitimacy of official state employees engaging in pre-election activities versus private organizations with political agendas. Other states, such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina, have seen similar in-person campaigns.
To counter these in-person disinformation efforts, the state is incorporating offline interventions where local election officials are provided with a playbook of factual information and details on the election process so they can be prepared to correct mis/disinformation during public meetings and when campaigning. Earlier this year, the state also passed an internal election security bill requiring new security measures to protect the state’s elections and its election workers. The law aims to bolster voter confidence in how elections are conducted to help prevent the embrace of election conspiracy theories.
Oregon
Aiming to refocus Oregon's counter disinformation efforts on pre-bunking, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s office recently launched a public service announcement campaign.. With a budget of $350,000, the campaign includes a series of animated videos featuring Oregon landmarks, as well as ads on social media, broadcast TV, and podcast platforms. The campaign is being produced in English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Somali, reflecting the need to reach a diverse range of communities across the state. Citing research that shows once a person forms a belief about elections it's then hard to change their mind, the campaign aims to get ahead of false information on voting in the state. Fagan is also encouraging election officials to build stronger connections with local journalists to facilitate organic, fact-driven media coverage.
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