The stakes are high on election day. At a tense political point, we are. Last week, Arizona had to issue restraining orders against militia members who showed up at early voting sites. The spread of a burgeoning conspiracy theory on social media is an illustrative case study in the role online misinformation plays in sowing political unrest.
A video that was recorded at a voting site in Anthem, Arizona, gained rapid traction on Tuesday morning. A poll worker informs a line of would-be voters that the site's machines aren't working and tries to convince them that their ballots will still be read manually.
The founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, first posted a video on his website. It goes all the way up to the Eastern time zone. Kate Starbird, a researcher who studies misinformation and social media at the University of Washington, found that less than two hours after it was posted, millions of people had watched it.
There is a thread on the phenomenon of the Maricopa County Machines on the Election Integrity partnership's website.
The faulty machines were an attempt by Democrats to rig the election. The topic of "Cheating" became a topic on the social networking site. Donald Trump Jr. spread the clip to his huge following. Kirk, Trump Jr., and other far-right pundits said that if machines weren't working, you should put your ballot in "Box 3."
The Maricopa County Elections Department posted a video about an hour after Kirk posted.
In it, two election officials say that all ballots will be counted and that hand-counting is standard in most Arizona counties. Voters can go to another location if they really want to put their ballot in a machine.
Less than half a million people have watched that video.
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