With Election Day 2024 less than 24 hours away, it’s important to ensure you’re not getting false or misleading information but accurate information from trusted sources.
To avoid being misled, experts have shared several important reminders for the election, including one on the process for counting votes.
Depending on the state you vote in, election rules and procedures vary. It’s important to remember that just because your state does something a certain way, it doesn’t mean every other state does.
Furthermore, rules can even change within states, depending on the country. While some states allow for the processing of mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day, others require them to be processed after polls close on Election Day.
Because of this, results can shift dramatically throughout election night, as it depends on how ballots are counted.
When it comes to how you are receiving your news on election night, experts like Hannah Covington, senior director of education content at the News Literacy Project, warn that not everything you see online is trustworthy.
To ensure the information you are consuming is accurate, Covington says to check with trusted media outlets. However, she also said to check that more than one is reporting on whatever you are seeing.
“If you don’t see something reported by multiple news outlets, then it’s probably time to just wait [before sharing],” Covington shared with NPR.
Ian Shure, a CBS News Tech Contributor, shared with Audacy last month that now is a big time for “disinformation experts” because people are trying now more than ever to get educated on topics.
“You’ve got some people who are just starting to tune in right now because they’ve been sick and tired of listening to the nonstop campaigning for the last two years,” Shure said. “And so they’re only starting to listen now. And this is when the disinformation campaigns can have their biggest impact.”
To ensure that your news source is trustworthy and not attempting to mislead you, Covington shared that checking for how it handles errors in its reporting can be a big green or red flag.
While it might seem counterintuitive to trust a source that has errors, Covington told NPR, “actually correcting information when there’s an inaccuracy is a huge sign of credibility.”
As for election results and what to expect, experts have shared that the race is unlikely to be done on the night of Nov. 5. With Vice President Harris and former President Trump essentially tied in most polls, the winner may not be declareduntil later this week. If candidates call for recounts, it could take weeks for a winner to be declared.
The outlet FiveThirtyEight shared its projections for each state and when results should be expected but noted that “no one knows for sure” when the race will be won, as everything now remains estimates.
“Unforeseen issues, whether caused by human error or technological glitches, can delay results beyond what’s expected,” the outlet shared. “Even in states that count their ballots quickly, it can take days or even weeks to project a winner if an election is close enough.”