Poll watchers, sometimes referred to as “election observers”, are people affiliated with, and appointed by specific political parties, nonpartisan groups, or special interest groups, to observe and monitor the election. Poll watchers cannot interfere with voters or voting, but they can alert an election official of anything unusual going on.

Sources: pewresearch.org / ncsl.org / eac.gov

How is an election certified?

After the polls close, election officials count all ballots and process provisional ballots before conducting a “canvass” – the process of tabulating, double-checking, and communicating the results from the local jurisdiction to the state level. Certification only happens after these results have been repeatedly verified during the canvassing process. Election certification is conducted at the state level, either by a state board of elections or the state’s chief elections officer. This certification finalizes the election result.

Sources: democracydocket.com / eac.gov / protectdemocracy

What does it mean for a social platform to “reduce the reach” of specific content when misinformation is suspected?

When content posted on social media is flagged as suspected misinformation or disinformation one tool often used by these platforms is to “reduce the reach” of the flagged content. Depending on the platform, a number of methods are used to reduce the reach of such posts including making them harder to find by filtering them from explore pages or hashtags; reducing their visibility in platform feeds; labeling them as false or partly false; informing users who attempt to share the post that its content has been disputed.

Sources: facebook.com / scholarship.law.unc.edu