Conspiracy Theories Around Voting Aren’t Going Anywhere

Well before former president Donald Trump lost to President Biden in 2020, he began planting seeds of mistrust with the electoral process, suggesting that mail-in ballots were inherently suspicious and warning of widespread voting fraud. After he officially lost, he ramped up his false claims, blaming Biden’s victory on vote dumping and on Dominion Voting Systems switching votes for him and giving them to Biden. 

Those lies still hang over us nearly three years later, as we inch closer to the 2024 race where Trump hopes to reclaim the spot as commander in chief, even as he becomes the first current or former president ever charged with a crime. Although misinformation and disinformation regarding elections aren’t new phenomena, the “Big Lie” conspiracy created by Trump and endorsed by some lawmakers and millions of his followers has shifted how election officials, voters, and politicians are approaching the upcoming election cycle.

Derek Tisler serves as counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice Democracy Program, focusing on issues related to election administration, security, and disinformation. Tisler told Teen Vogue that people lose confidence in our safe electoral process as claims like Trump’s are amplified.

“Anytime you’re talking about technology, there are a lot of people who don’t necessarily understand what’s happening. And this is why we tend to see, especially in the election space, conspiracy theories that focus on technology and whether technology is working as it’s supposed to,” he said. “They start to lose confidence that it’s working as it should. This is why transparency is really such an important safeguard of our election system.”

According to Tisler’s colleague Mekela Panditharatne, an attorney who focuses on election reform and security, among other issues, “Misinformation can really thrive because the demand for accurate information sometimes exceeds the supply of it.”

Trump’s baseless claims about the integrity of the 2020 election were proven false numerous times, and the election was called “the most secure in American history” by security officials. Even in the six battleground states that Trump fervently claimed were miscounted, AP reporters found less than 475 instances of possible voter fraud out of 25.5 million ballots cast in those states.

But that didn’t stop Trump’s supporters from literally fighting so that he could retain his position as president, as evidenced by the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, that has so far led to at least 1,000 arrests and nearly 400 criminal sentences. Many lawmakers have also done their share of perpetuating manufactured concerns about voter fraud by passing 34 voter restriction laws in 2021, and 11 in 2022. As of February, they’ve also introduced or pre-filed 150 bills this year that hinder the voting process and, according to election experts at the Brennan Center, lead to a higher risk for voter disenfranchisement.

All of this is happening despite the many safety measures in place to protect the integrity of US elections. Across the country, poll watchers monitor the election process to ensure legitimacy and safety. In the majority of states and Washington DC, pre-Election Day voting equipment testing is open to the public. For accuracy, many states hand count a sample of ballots to compare them to voting machines’ counts and also deploy other checks and balances for Election Day. The machines are designed to have a lifespan of only about 10 years, according to Tisler. But while there can be potential issues with paper ballots, like the shortage Georgia had during the 2020 primary election, they’re often a highly reliable solution in the case of a machine malfunction, which can lead to longer lines and delayed results.