On Election Day, Kate Starbird, a principal investigator at the Center for an Informed Public, wants journalists and the public to be ready for attempts to undermine confidence in election results. Bad actors may use false declarations of victory, images of long lines, claims of voter fraud, and other slanted narratives that attempt to generate uncertainty.
Kate Starbird, Center for an Informed Public principal investigator
In an interview with MIT Technology Review, Starbird warned, “We see an opportunity for political actors both domestic and foreign to opportunistically select projections, data, or cases they can use to amplify confusion, to sow doubt.” The MIT article highlights a recent Election Integrity Partnership analysis Starbird helped develop which outlines possible scenarios of misinformation that may occur in the days and weeks following the United States election on Nov. 3.
For Starbird, distrust in election results is at the core of what she sees could emerge as an Election Day narrative. “This narrative that you’re not going to be able to trust the election results is really problematic,” Starbird explained in a Science magazine article on the impact of fake news on social media. “If you can’t trust your elections, then I’m not sure democracy can work.”
>> Read the full MIT Technology Review article about Election Day results
>> Read the full Science magazine article of the impact of fake news on social media
>> Read the full Election Integrity Partnership analysis
