Larry Norden

@larrynorden.bsky.social

@katestarbird.bsky.socialReposted by @larrynorden.bsky.social

"Rigged election" rumors typically mislead in one of six ways. The rumors swirling around the election worker view fall in the "misinterpreted evidence" category. The video is real, it just doesn't show what the rumors suggest it's showing.

Table titled “Six Ways ‘Rigged Election’ Rumors Mislead.” Each row pairs a label with a description. No Evidence: The rumor is entirely unsubstantiated. There’s no evidence to support the rumor. Fake/False Evidence: The rumor is based on fake or synthetic evidence (e.g. AI-generated content), manipulated evidence, or false witness testimony. Misinterpreted Evidence: This rumor is based upon real evidence that has been misinterpreted or intentionally mischaracterized to create a false impression. The last three rows are grouped under the heading “Real Evidence, Real Voting Issue, False Narrative.” Exaggerated Impact: The rumor centers on a real issue with voting but falsely insinuates or exaggerates impact on election results. Ignored Remedies: The rumor centers on a real issue with voting but ignores and/or obscures the remedies that would address this problem. False Blame: The rumor centers on a real issue with voting but either falsely attributes intent for an accidental issue or places blame on an innocent party. UW Center for an Informed Public, September 2026
@hansilowang.bsky.socialReposted by @larrynorden.bsky.social

My latest @npr.org story: If you have to use the U.S. Postal Service to return a mail-in ballot, USPS recommends mailing it at least a week before your state's deadline. And if you're mailing close to Election Day, stop by a post office to ask for a postmark to make sure it gets one on the same day

@katestarbird.bsky.socialReposted by @larrynorden.bsky.social

Over on X, the “rigged election” crowd is pushing rumors around a video livestream clip of election workers, working late at night, allegedly doing something nefarious. Maricopa officials have explained that the workers are just… doing their jobs. But rumors around the video continue to swirl.

X Posts about the Maricopa Late-Night Video, Oct 9–11, 2026.” The x-axis is time (local) from midday Oct 9 to mid-morning Oct 11. The y-axis is the cumulative number of posts, including reposts, from 0 to 35,000. A black line shows the running total. It is flat until mid-afternoon Oct 9, then rises sharply that evening to about 5,000. It climbs slowly overnight, then steeply through Oct 10 to about 28,000 by that evening. It levels off overnight and rises again on the morning of Oct 11, ending near 36,000. 365 individual posts are plotted on the line at the time they were posted, sized by repost count. A legend identifies 80 original posts as blue circles, 220 reposts as green triangles and 65 quote posts as orange squares. The largest markers are early: a large original post in the afternoon of Oct 9, a very large quote post around 6:30 PM Oct 9 at the start of the first surge, and another large quote post around 9 AM Oct 10 early in the second. Reposts are spread along the whole curve.
@brennancenter.orgReposted by @larrynorden.bsky.social

A new California law requires AI-generated images to include digital labels — but most chatbots aren’t looking for them, making the bots unhelpful for detecting election-related misinformation. bit.ly/4zbQjSZ

@mawaldman.bsky.socialReposted by @larrynorden.bsky.social

Half a billion dollars in GOP spending does little to move polls - the Washington Post story (perhaps understandably) focuses on partisan outcomes. Part of the story, a big one. Only part. Part is the very unusual tilt - money so favoring one party.

@stevespaulding.bsky.socialReposted by @larrynorden.bsky.social

That's one reason among many that we need term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices. Under the most popular proposal, justices would serve for 18 years before transitioning to senior status. Importantly, this means each president would get two -- and only two -- SCOTUS noms.

@democracyvibe.bsky.socialReposted by @larrynorden.bsky.social

That distinction matters: an operation doesn’t have to change a single ballot to damage an election. Flooding voters with convincing falsehoods can erode trust in the result—and make accurate counting harder to defend.

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