IDAHO — Recent elections have been the target of a lot of misinformation and disinformation, on social media and in everyday conversations. The Idaho Secretary of State's office is working to combat this with education.
"Democracy is a little bit like a cake. A lot of different ingredients come together and if you're missing one of them, it might not come out right," said Boise State Professor, Isaac Castellano.
He applies this analogy to elections. Misinformation is the accidental spread of incorrect information and disinformation is the intentional spread of incorrect information. Both can interfere with a citizen being an educated voter and impact our elections.
The Idaho Secretary of State's office created a video series to educate voters on the election process and counter the spread of this incorrect information.
"If you hear that something happens this way and yet the reality is that the statutes say that we have to do it that way, you understand the why," said Chief Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck.
The videos cover everything from how the state manages the voter roles to the tabulation process.
In addition to using official sources to get your information, like the Secretary of State's election videos, other ways to make sure you don't fall for misinformation or disinformation are to get your news from a variety of sources and be aware of messages that are overly emotional or dramatic and check the source.
