How the top election official in America's biggest swing state is preparing for November
Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania’s top state election official, outlined Thursday how administrators in the nation’s biggest battleground state are preparing to take on election misinformation and even potential violence before and after ballots are cast this year.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania’s top state election official, outlined Thursday how administrators in the nation’s biggest battleground state are preparing to take on election misinformation and even potential violence before and after ballots are cast this year.
Schmidt, a Republican who in 2020 was a Philadelphia election official and was targeted by Donald Trump as the then-president peddled false accusations of fraud in the city, spoke to NBC News in between panels at an event focused on election safeguards. He pointed to the importance of proactively debunking incorrect information swirling online, which he says can inflame emotions during voting season and stir people to threats or acts of violence.
But he said election officials have learned a lot since 2020.
“I would say one contributing factor is the volume of misinformation that voters are being subjected to — just an avalanche of it,” Schmidt said. “And when it’s mis- and disinformation, it can lead, I’m sure, very sincere, well-intentioned people to act out based on that false information that they believe to be true.”
Schmidt, who was appointed Pennsylvania secretary of the commonwealth by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, said he and other officials now look to “pre-bunk” false claims earlier to give them less time to metastasize with the public.
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