COMBATTING “THE BIG LIE”
Since April 2020 our airwaves have been dominated by messages that warn us of rampant voter fraud. "That's the only way I could lose,” former President Trump told us before the 2020 election. And when he did lose, his slogan, “Stop the Steal,” and his drumbeat of election fraud amplified his lie, casting him, in the minds of many of his followers, in the role of patriotic victim. According to the NYTimes "stolen election" was mentioned 325,000 times on Twitter in just one month this summer. And during the same time period, over 2.5 million people watched an online video about voter fraud. You might have seen it.
None of this is true. Biden won, fair and square, by thousands of votes in every state that the Trump team contested. There were no suitcases of ballots in Georgia. There were no computer glitches. Dominion Voting Systems has filed libel suits against Fox and other right wing news outlets for their false claims. And Homeland Security’s Cyber-Security division has run the machines through all their tests and found them to be secure.
What are all these claims of voter fraud really about? Republicans fear their party can't win elections legally because of changes in the U.S. voter population. Increasing numbers of voters — Black and Latino, women and young voters — do not support Republican priorities. These voters want their government to provide better services: quality public education, affordable health care, a fairer immigration system, investments in affordable housing. And they don't think it's the government's job to invade our privacy, limit women's reproductive rights, or take away the right of LGBTQ folks to marry.
Election deniers have to cover up their failure to address voters’ real concerns. So they resort to claims that essentially resuscitate the white supremacist claim that only white male landowners should be able to vote legally— as was the case when this country was founded, before the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments were passed. In this ”originalist” view, massive voter fraud exists because citizens who are Black, Brown, and female are voting “illegally.”
Of course this is not true. But disinformation is contagious. It appeals to our fears and makes us distrust the very systems that are the foundation of our democracy.
Combat “The Big Lie” by following these steps designed to assure that the vote of every American citizen —living here or living abroad — counts.
Go to the State Board of Elections to make sure you are registered to vote.
If you’re registered at the right address, click on your name. Your whole voting history will show up, including your precinct number and polling place. Remember that Early Voting places can differ from your regular polling place. If you plan to vote on Election Day, you must be sure to go to your precinct polling place.
If you have moved, make sure you are registered at your current address. Visit the NC State Board of Elections site to find out how to update your registration.
If it’s close to the registration deadline (October 14 this year), wait till Early Voting, October 20-November. You can update your registration then. Just be sure to bring proof of your new address.
Once you are sure you are registered, do your research. Find out which candidates share your values. Be sure to use reputable sources like “Vote 411,Voter Guide,” the site run by the non-partisan League of Women Voters.
Decide how you want to vote — absentee ballot, early voting, Election Day. Whatever method you choose, be sure to vote up and down the ballot — and on both sides!
What happens after I vote? For information on what happens after you submit your vote see the League of Women Voters Video What Happens After We Vote in North Carolina?
Here are the main points of the video:
Safe Storage
If you vote absentee by mail, you can make sure your ballot has been accepted by signing up for ballot trax for North Carolina. This website tracks your ballot from the time it arrives at your county Board of Elections through the review process.
After it is accepted by the Board of Elections, your ballot is tabulated along with one-stop Early Vote ballots. Both the original ballot and the tabulation are stored in a secure location until the end of voting on Election Day.
Once the polls close, all these early votes are counted and are the first votes reported.
Transparency
The process of counting and verifying ballots, which takes places over 10 days, is called the “canvass.” North Carolina election laws require that the counting of ballots take place at meetings open to the public.
Here’s what happens during the canvass:
Before we vote we complete an “authorization to vote” form. Canvassers match these forms with ballots to make sure no one has been left out.
Canvassers conduct sample hand-to-eye audits, comparing paper ballots with the results on the tabulator. In this way election workers make sure that the tabulators have counted every vote correctly and that every vote counts.
Only after these processes are completed — all in the public eye — is the election certified.
If election results are close, and if one of the candidates contests the results, a team composed of election workers from both parties conducts a hand-to-eye audit, examining every ballot to ensure that the vote is correctly counted.
Security
What about all those stories about hacking and malfunctioning voting machines?
There is absolutely no evidence of any hacking in North Carolina in the 2020 election. None of the computers, tabulators, or voting machines in the state are connected to the internet, so no individual or group could have accessed or changed your vote — or otherwise interfered with the tabulation process.
All the checks described above — matching authorization forms with paper ballots, comparing tabulator results with ballots — mean that you can be confident that in North Carolina every vote counts.
“The Big Lie” is just that — a complete fabrication manufactured for undemocratic purposes. As Damon Circosta, Chairperson of the North Carolina Board of Elections writes:
“[b]ecause of the high level of conflict and polarization right now, those of us in the Election Administration community are worried. Some of us are Republicans, some are Democrats, but all of us are Americans first.
We want what you want. We want a thriving democracy where our differences are settled at the ballot box and where we can continue to seek that more perfect union.
We will do our level best to make sure your voting experience is secure, accessible, and fair. In return, I hope that you will show up to vote and have faith in your neighbors and friends who are conducting the voting process.”
Vote to Protect our Democracy! Vote for Democratic Candidates Up and Down the Ballot!