A Glitch, Not a Fraudulent Activity

The latest voter report coming from Michigan has been targeted by election denial activists who, driven by misinformation, are claiming that numerous ballots were cast under a single voter’s name. This incident happened on account of a glitch in the latest voter’s report, not an act of voter fraud as perpetuated by the detractors.

This report was quickly rectified and explained by Angela Benander, the spokesperson for the Michigan’s Secretary of State’s office. The error was purely a formatting glitch in a routinely generated report sourced from the state’s voter roll files. Instead of properly recording past addresses of voters, the report listed them on separate lines. Consequently, this resulted in the same ballot of one voter appearing multiple times, understandably causing confusion and providing fodder for these activists.

The Role of the Election Integrity Network

This incident highlights how small glitches and errors, which are commonplace within any system operating at such a grand scale, can be misconstrued and amplified by groups with a particular narrative. As in this case, this apparatus of election denial activists utilizes these situations to falsely support their claim that the Democrats are manipulating the election process, echoing Donald J. Trump and his allies.

A far-right website, responsible for spreading much of the misinformation around election systems, first published the false theory. A writer for the website claimed that the ‘Check My Vote’ founders had discovered a significant anomaly based on Michigan’s absentee ballot data.

It is crucial to point out here that ‘Check My Vote’ is a product developed recently that enables these denial activists to monitor and identify so-called suspicious votes, but its methodology has proven to be flawed upon reviews by election experts.

This software is associated with Michigan Fair Elections, a sub-sect of the Election Integrity Network. This network is a coalition of national, state, and local groups that surfaced after the 2020 elections, with a common agenda of spreading election lies propagated by Trump and his allies.

Misinformation: An Undermining Threat to Democracy

This incident rings alarm bells on the growing influence of misinformation on our democratic process, undermining the faith in our electoral process, and creating a divide among the voters. It is of utmost importance that the voters and the public are aware of the facts and remain vigilant against these efforts of spreading misinformation.