Illumination helps to bring us better decisions

O pinion

Among the darkening infestation of misinformation surrounding elections, one gleam of light shines bright: Voting machines are more accurate than hand counting.

Research and recounts have shown us this. To entertain what-ifs or one-offs or claims to the contrary creates a false equivalence between the two methods of making sure our electoral process is safe and accurate.

That fact, however luminous and true, still fails to dissuade a swath of Americans otherwise.

One recent example of such recalcitrance happened in Nebraska’s own Douglas County. There, a candidate for County Board, who lost by 30 percentage points, offered to pony up a couple thousand bucks for a recount, provided it was done by hand. The original tally was made by voting machines.

He admitted that winning in a recount was unlikely, but he wanted to make a larger point, which, in the end, turned out to be moot. The funds never materialized and his point — something along the lines that voting machines were corrupting election results — faded.

Since the Big Lie arrived the day after the last presidential election, claims of voter fraud, bogus ballot counting machines and a variety of lesser sins in the electoral process have tried to cloud the sunlight of reality: Elections and voting machines remain secure.

Nevertheless, Nebraska, one of 37 state legislatures who believed the sky was falling on elections, changed the voting process to require photo IDs to vote, thereby making elections — as we have in Nebraska — safe from fraud.

Fraud which essentially did not exist.

While not as extreme as believing the margin of error is whether my candidate loses, legislators made serious decisions — and created clear paths to disenfranchise voters — based on a premise that had never been proven.

To be fair, Nebraska’s primary election in May went off with few problems related to photo IDs. Still, trust in voting machines and elections — as it is in other institutions — is on the wane.

A number of voters and elected officials have already declared their opposition to the 2024 results unless it goes their way.

Two reputable research firms confirmed the mistrust last year. Gallup News found that two out of every three Americans trusted their local leaders and governments, but only one in three trusted the federal government’s legislative branch. The Pew Research Center reported that trust in the federal government had dipped below 20%.

Other research shows Americans also have an increased reliance on social media for information on everything from what movie to watch to where to shop for the best widgets, what’s trending in the social status world and, especially, who should be president.

A link seems to exist between a rise in our institutional distrust and our increased dependence on the (mis) information superhighway.

And, as even the most pedestrian online consumer of news and information knows (or should know), sifting the wheat of accuracy and verifiable particulars from the chaff of lies and disinformation is the most important skill one needs in navigating social media and the online world.

Now, into that cauldron where facts mingle with hogwash, we have to filter not simply trolls, fabulists, spin doctors, liars, propagandists and millions out there just making stuff up. Now we have to deal with Russia, China and Iran. Better check your Facebook friends.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson recently reported in her “Letters from an American” daily briefing that those who track online posts for propaganda threats found that Russia remained a formidable disinformation player, determined to influence the outcome of the 2024 election.

Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Mark Warner said that even with our knowledge of Russia’s interference in 2016, we are more vulnerable than ever to meddling via misinformation. He said in an interview, “With polarization in this country, and the lack of faith in institutions, people will believe anything or not believe things that come from what used to be viewed as trusted sources of information. So there’s a much greater willingness to accept conspiracy theories.”

Aside from Russia’s troll farms, Richardson’s report also cited instances of Chinese operatives flooding social media with fake accounts bent on influencing voters and noted that the U.S. State Department is warning Americans of the enormous amount of online content they may be reading generated by foreign agents. Iran, too, has entered the fray, using online means to create “chaos” as the fall election nears.

All of which should give online users — all of us, really — pause as we weigh content on which our choices and our votes are made.

And where our futures will be determined.