One of the most widespread challenges facing modern elections is false information. In Illinois, officials say misinformation and disinformation schemes are getting more aggressive.
“As we get closer to Election Day, I think we’re going to have more and more misinformation schemes,” said Marisel Hernandez, chairwoman of the Chicago Board of Elections. “But we’re determined to be ahead of the curve and be out there letting voters know what is correct and what isn’t.”
The Tribune has fact-checked reported scams circulating in Illinois. Here are facts to know leading up to Nov. 3:
Voting more than once in an election is illegal.
President Donald Trump has told voters to cast a ballot by mail and then vote in person to test the integrity of the elections system. But voting twice is illegal.
In Illinois, knowingly voting more than once or attempting to do so is a class 3 felony. People who attempt to commit this type of voter fraud will run into numerous safeguards.
Election judges will have records to verify whether or not you’ve received or cast a mail-in ballot. If you tell an election judge at a polling place that you’ve never received a vote-by-mail ballot, and the poll books show otherwise, you have to sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury.
Local officials don’t immediately process mail-in ballots received on Election Day to prevent other attempts at double voting. If someone casts a ballot by mail that is received on Nov. 3, officials won’t review it until later because it wouldn’t have been processed in time to be reflected in the Election Day poll books.
You also can’t sign someone else’s vote-by-mail application, because each one is addressed to a specific person, who has his or her own unique voter ID. Election authorities compare signatures on file with the one sent in from the voter.
“You’re not going to be able to trick the system,” said Matt Dietrich, spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections. And if you try, it’s easy to prove you committed a felony, he added.
There is no such thing as voting online or through text.
Some scammers have tried disseminating information that voters can cast their ballot online or by texting it, which is impossible.
Voters can cast their ballot through mail, by dropping it in a secured drop box or in person at a polling site.
Nothing in the voter registration system indicates party affiliation.
One false claim shared thousands of times on social media stemmed from a true story about the confiscation of several thousand fake state driver’s licenses at Chicago O’Hare International Airport this year.
The social media post, however, falsely stated that the nearly 20,000 counterfeit driver’s licenses belonged to Democrats and were all registered to vote. In actuality, most were destined for college students in neighboring states, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release.
The IDs had no known links to voter fraud.
There is nothing in the Illinois voter registration system that attaches a person’s name to a party affiliation, according to Dietrich. Voters also need more than one form of identification during registration, and a fake driver’s license number that doesn’t match a record at the Illinois secretary of state’s office would be flagged.
Voter information is not being sold or redistributed.
Some Illinois voters have reported robocalls spreading the false claim that residents who vote by mail will have private information leaked to third parties. Their personal details, the robocalls claim, will be shared with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, law enforcement and creditors to track people for vaccines, warrants or debt.
The claim is entirely false and primarily meant to discourage voting by mail, state officials said. Other robocalls have claimed ballots won’t be counted if people use the vote-by-mail system, which is also not true.
Be wary of robocalls sharing questionable information. When in doubt, check with your local election authority’s office.
Illinois upgraded its cyber defenses to prevent hacking and scams.
Russians hacked the Illinois voter registration database in 2016 and viewed the personal information of more than 76,000 voters. Dietrich said the election wasn’t affected, and no identity theft issues were reported, but the attack did prompt significant upgrades to cyber defenses.
One of those is the Cyber Navigator Program, which was launched after the 2016 hacking attack using federal grant money. A few tech specialists now work with election officials to conduct risk assessments and fix potential problems, such as phishing scams.
“The Cyber Navigator Program was designed to make sure that none of the individual election authorities have to go through what we went through four years ago,” Dietrich said.
Every local election authority has the same training and resources for best cybersecurity practices, Dietrich added. State officials now communicate with local election authorities over a secure line; voter files no longer pass over the public internet.
Don’t interact with social media posts from untrusted sources.
Social media is often the facilitator of false information. In 2016, foreign-sponsored digital political ads targeted voters and tried to heighten tensions in America, which should act as a cautionary tale for people perusing social networks this year.
“Our biggest concern is social media,” Dietrich said, adding that the state has a staff member “always on the lookout for bad information specific to elections over social media” and the general media.
But social media is still the hardest area to watch and regulate for false information, Dietrich said. He recommended voters refrain from sharing or reacting to posts from untrusted sources, especially if the information relates to the election process.
Once you interact with a user spreading unconfirmed information on social media, “you’re going to be targeted more with those types of posts,” Dietrich said.
When coming across an election-related post on social media, voters should investigate the source. If it’s difficult to discern where it’s coming from, do some research before sharing or interacting with it.
“If in doubt, check it out,” Hernandez, of the Chicago Board of Elections, said.
If voters have any questions or hope to verify information, they can visit elections.il.gov or call their local election authority or the state office at 217-782-4141.
