Election officials across the country are trying to be prepared for events beyond their control.

When millions of Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, some voters may experience minor issues such as equipment malfunctions or delays. Election officials say they are prepared for these inevitable challenges every election year, but they are also combating the flood of misinformation that could follow, where bad actors or election skeptics will use sometimes minor issues to amplify false claims. widespread voter fraud.

A preview of this problem occurred last week when a voter in Kentucky shared a video online of what officials called “user error” on the electronic ballot-marking machine, creating the false impression that the device switched votes from Donald Trump to Kamala Harris. . Election officials said the machine produces a paper ballot, the user has the opportunity to confirm their vote multiple times before it is scanned, and the voter who posts the video can cast their vote as intended.

After the machine was taken out of service, Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown shared a video online showing the machine working smoothly and said officials had a hard time repeating the mistake. But the damage had already been done, with the original video viewed tens of millions of times on social media and the voting machines being shared by users who claimed the election was rigged.

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Still, the incident in Kentucky underscores what election experts have been emphasizing to the voting public: While minor disruptions occurred at a few isolated polling places, they are not indicative of widespread voter fraud.

“I hate that this is happening in Laurel County,” Brown said. “We strive for accurate, safe and secure elections that we are proud to offer to our citizens.”

Anticipating similar problems on Election Day, election officials in some counties have prepared pre-written fact checks that can be shared online to quickly prevent misinformation before it spreads.

“If there’s an issue that comes up on Election Day, we can say, ‘Here’s something you may have seen, here’s what actually happened,'” said Samantha Shepherd, communications manager for Virginia’s Loudoun County. “This is one version of our crisis communications plan to address misinformation and disinformation.”

Election workers hope open communication and transparency can stem what Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, described as a “firehose of disinformation” targeting the integrity of the nation’s elections.

“Election officials have never been better prepared to provide safe, secure, free and fair elections for the public,” Easterly said. he said.

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This security is due in part to built-in redundancies that allow officials to safely administer the election even if equipment fails.

“We have paper backup in almost every jurisdiction across the country, so we can rely on that if technology doesn’t help us,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Easterly said 97 percent of voters nationwide will vote in precincts that provide verifiable paper backups.

That means election workers can revert to traditional paper ballots if the electronic voting machine breaks, said Derek Tisler, an attorney with the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit think tank. In a case such as the ballot marking device at issue in Kentucky, the paper ballot indicated that the voter’s choice needed to be corrected; This was before the votes were actually cast.

“The common theme we see in a lot of backups, especially those related to technical issues, is that there is often a very simple, paper-based system that keeps things running smoothly until the problem is resolved,” Tisler said.

Tisler also said transparency increased after the 2020 election, with poll watchers able to oversee most elements of election administration and election workers often working in two-person or bipartisan teams.

“We’re wide open. You can come in anytime,” said Aaron Ammons, a clerk in Champaign County, Illinois. “The public can come and see the process from A to Z, and I strongly encourage them.”

The decentralized nature of the country’s election infrastructure also protects against widespread fraud, experts say. Elections are generally held at the district level rather than operating under a single nationwide system; In some states, such as Wisconsin and Michigan, elections are conducted through thousands of municipal clerks; This is a regulation that helps prevent bad actors from causing large-scale systemic problems.

“We have a large, decentralized election system that is run in counties and cities across the country, and it is natural for there to be some bumps in the road,” said Brian Hinkle, senior voting policy researcher at the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit organization. think tank. “But ultimately these election officials go to great lengths to make sure the process is accurate, safe and secure.”