The 2024 election season is in full swing and with the race for the White House happening this cycle, we're already seeing misinformation appear online.
ABC15's Kaley O'Kelley sat down with our data analyst Garrett Archer to talk about what we can expect to see in the next few months.
"It's very difficult as a member of the public to try and figure out what's real from what's not real," Archer says.
Over the past four years, election misinformation has made its way into the headlines, especially when it came to the 2020 Election in Arizona.
"Maricopa County was absolutely in the spotlight, there was absolutely a printer issue in this last election — there's no denying that. What was the disinformation, was sort of the narrative that got spun around there, where it was sort of a claim that...these printer issues were intentional," says Archer.
ABC15 covered the printer issues extensively. The problems led to long lines at polling places and misread ballots across Maricopa County.
Last year we learned from an independent report that the longer ballots on heavier paper caused some of the printer errors but that those issues were not tied to any actual fraud.
Still, frustration at the polls contributed to rumors spreading online.
Some of that misinformation is driven by emotions.
"If you see an election claim that creates an emotional response, that's the best time to actually check on the validity of that because it is in that emotional response that disinformation is disseminated," Archer says.
He also tells us that misinformation can spread more frequently because of people's time constraints.
"Time is a big element because, you know, when you don't have time to look something up, you're going to go to your trusted source and if your trusted source is what's putting out misinformation, that's a huge problem."
So, what can we learn from previous elections and how can we become smarter news consumers in the coming months?
"You should always challenge yourself, that's one of the things people always forget," Archer says. "If you feel that there is election fraud, think of it from the other angle."
Archer also recommends you check multiple sources and if you can't find anyone else covering the claim, there's a bigger chance that it could be misinformation.
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