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Our @2020Partnership team wrote an article describing what we expect to see on Election Day and the days following in terms of misinformation, disinformation, and other attacks on election integrity: https://www.eipartnership.net/news/what-to-expect
On election day, there will be efforts to deter voting with images and videos of long lines, COVID-19 dangers, and protests. The voting process will be intensely documented. Problems will be over-emphasized & strategically framed to fit misleading narratives (eg of voter fraud).
On election night, there may be uncertainty about the results. This uncertainty (and the anxiety it generates in people) will create opportunities for domestic and foreign political actors, conspiracy theorists, and other opportunists to delegitimize the election results.
Premature winners will be declared, disenfranchisement highlighted, and “evidence” assembled to support false narratives of voter fraud (especially in the right wing media). When they take action to address misinformation, social media companies will be accused of censorship.
As mail-in ballots are counted, there may be red/blue shifts in some races. “Evidence” will be assembled & old conspiracy theories will be resurfaced to delegitimize these shifts. Lost/found ballots will be problematized, foreign interference alleged, & bad statistics exploited.
