Common Cause Launches Voting Anti-Disinformation Week of Content to Provide Correct, Factual Information to Voters

Heading into the final stretch of voting season, Common Cause, in partnership with the Election Protection coalition and the Digital Defense League, is launching a Voting Anti-Disinformation Week of Content as part of its Stopping Cyber-Suppression program. Partner organizations across the voting rights, civil rights, and public interest sector will be pushing out content on social media focused on election integrity, what people can do to stop disinformation, and why we must count every vote in this election. Additionally, Common Cause is launching a six-figure paid media campaign focused on urging people to be prepared to wait for election results and the need to let local election officials count every vote.

The content campaign comes as Common Cause continues to expand its robust social media monitoring program that combats online cyber suppression. To date, Common Cause has:

  • Recruited 4,330 volunteers and online influencers to monitor social media for disinformation and provide voters with correct, factual information about their right to vote
  • Engaged and trained 35 national, state, and local groups to centralize monitoring and rapid response related to voting disinformation
  • Texted 8.5 million voters about their right to vote through volunteers
  • Identified thousands of pieces of disinformation and worked with online platforms to have hundreds of pieces of disinformation removed that could have reached millions of voters

“Every voter has a right to participate in our elections free from intimidation, confusion, or disinformation,” said Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn. “Common Cause’s Stopping Cyber-Suppression is a critical part of the 2020 Election Protection infrastructure to protect all American’s voting rights and ensure we have secure, fair, and free elections. Online disinformation is a relatively new challenge to our elections and democracy and Common Cause and our partners are doing all we can to meet this challenge.”

“Through our amazing grassroots volunteers and partners, we’ve been able to build a large program to combat the tidal wave of election-related disinformation being thrown at voters this year, including from President Trump and his allies,” said Jesse Littlewood, Vice President of Campaigns at Common Cause, who directs the organization’s Stopping Cyber Suppression Program. “From monitoring social media and online platforms, to doing rapid response texting and phone banking, to holding the social media companies accountable for their inaction in combating disinformation, we are committed to ensuring voters’ have the information they need to make an informed decision and are not tricked by partisan special interests about their right to vote.”