The article explained why it’s “OK” that election night results might not indicate “final tallies.”
QUICK FACTS:
- One day before the midterm elections, ABC News warned of a “red mirage” or “artificial GOP vote lead” they said will likely “reoccur” on Tuesday.
- “As early Election Day results come in on Tuesday, it will likely appear that a [sic] Republican candidates vying for any number of the federal or statewide races appear to be leading their Democratic opponents, even by large margins,” ABC’s Monday article stated.
- The piece went on to say that the leads will “dwindle, or crumble completely, after perceived ‘dumps’ of votes are recorded.”
- According to the report, this is a “phenomenon” that was “popularized” as a “red mirage” or a “blue shift” when questions began to surface after the 2020 presidential election.
- The “illusion” referenced in the article is what mainstream outlets claim is the foundation for former President Donald Trump’s claim that the last election was fraudulent.
- This “red mirage” is said to take place in states where Democrats still use mail-in, absentee, or provisional ballots which will be counted later than the votes of their Republican counterparts who are voting in person.
EXPERT CITED ON VOTE COUNTING:
- “All signs point to the fact that it’s going to be extreme in certain critical states again, and Pennsylvania top among them,” Lawrence Norden, senior director of the Brennan Center’s Elections & Government Program said, going on to say that Americans could see candidates claim victory on election night. “I am very worried. I’m very worried that election denial forces are much more organized than they were in 2020.”
- “In some states, the numbers are so huge, like in Arizona, in terms of the number of people that are voting by mail. And though they have a head start, it’s not enough of one, so the counting is going to take a little bit longer,” Norden continued.
- “Frankly, there’s been signals from some of the election deniers already that they’re going to claim that the count should stop on election night,” the program director went on. “I think it’s important to make clear like nobody’s winning or losing on Election Day. The votes are all in, for the most part, it’s just a question of what states chose to count and when.”
BACKGROUND:
- The Biden administration cybersecurity chief Jen Easterly said that her agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will not censor information, and Americans should expect “normal” glitches and errors to come out during the midterm elections.
- American Faith previously reported that Easterly argued the errors they will likely encounter or hear about in the election are normal, and election officials have asked her to make sure Americans get that message.
- “There are going to be errors. There are going to be glitches. That happens in every election. But that’s why there are multiple layers of security controls and resilience built into the system… [These] are normal things. They’re not nefarious,” Easterly added.
