Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett.
There were three main things I took from the National Press Foundation’s Elections Journalism Fellowship this week, where reporters from around the country visited Detroit to learn from experts.
- Election officials believe threats to 2024’s presidential election are greater than four years ago.
- Efforts to reverse the 2020 result failed, but public confidence in elections was harmed and speakers fear more sophisticated attacks are looming.
- Election officials see a “narrative battle” taking shape in the news and on social media.
“The misinformation will be more vitriolic and perhaps even turbo-charged with artificial intelligence,” said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. “The potential for violence, attacks on our election officials, intimidation and potential for disruption is greater than ever before.”
Speakers repeatedly warned of influential online disinformation campaigns. Platforms like X and TikTok are expected to be rife with falsehoods about candidates, election dates and voter fraud.
Benson said she’s focused on ensuring Michigan’s election runs smoothly from start to finish.
This doesn’t stop after all votes are counted, election officials predict legal challenges, audits and recounts could follow. The results must also be legally certified by bipartisan canvassing boards and then approved by Congress.
Detroit was selected as the site of the NPF training event in part because it played a central role in “stolen election” claims that are still promoted by former President Donald Trump. Four years ago, a mob of conservatives was mobilized to stop the counting of absentee ballots.
Attorney General Dana Nessel said former President Donald Trump appears primed to dispute the outcome if he loses again.
Trump will likely face Vice President Kamala Harris, who was endorsed for the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden decided not to seek reelection.
“If Donald Trump had such a difficult time conceding that he lost to another older white man, he is definitely not going to be OK in the event that he loses a presidential election to a younger Black woman,” Nessel said. “I am very concerned about what plans he and his allies have to be disruptive to the 2024 election.”
It was put another way by Tina Barton, former clerk of Rochester Hills and a senior expert with The Elections Group. The nonpartisan organization works with election officials across the country to provide resources and support.
“Shit is going to hit the fan folks, it just will,” she said.
There are also silver linings. Casting a ballot has never been easier in the United States, with greater access to registration and early voting.
Detroit has 34 absentee ballot drop boxes and 14 early voting sites where citizens have been able to vote in person since nine days before the Aug. 6 primary. Every drop box in Michigan has a security camera watching it, and ballots are collected each day.
City Clerk Janice Winfrey said 37,000 absentee ballots have been cast as of Thursday, while 5,000 ballots were delivered to drop boxes and 1,200 people voted in person.
Officials said it’s OK for people to have questions. Elections are confusing and involve complicated procedures.
“This is not a perfect system,” Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck said this week. “We should not be discrediting everything that comes at us just by virtue of the fact that someone is criticizing elections.”
Check back with us on Monday for more insights I gathered from the three-day event.
