Building Capacity to Use Social Media: How Election Officials Can Leverage Content Creation to Provide Accurate Voter Information
As traditional news declines, content creators play a growing role as information sources. This paper proposes frameworks for effective collaboration between creators and election officials and offers recommendations for officials to develop their own social media content.
Traditional information sources like newspapers and television are losing their influence. Today, Americans, particularly young adults, are turning away from legacy media and using social media as their primary source for news and information.
Because social media platforms are designed to encourage passive consumption, they risk exposing people to misinformation. To counter this, election officials must actively intervene to provide accurate, accessible, and trustworthy election information.
This paper examines how state and local election officials can understand and use the content creator landscape to spread credible election information online and meet voters where they are. By outlining the current social media atmosphere, exploring practical models for creator partnerships, and offering guidance for officials to develop their own engaging content, this guide provides a roadmap for modernizing voter outreach.
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Claire Simon is a research assistant with Democracy and the Informed Public and a sophomore at Harvard College, concentrating in Social Studies.
Rob Rock is the Deputy Secretary of State and Director of Administration for the Rhode Island Department of State.
Tommy Gong is the county clerk in Lane County, Oregon. Tommy previously served as the Chief Deputy County Clerk-Recorder for Contra Costa County and the elected County Clerk-Recorder for San Luis Obispo County.
Tova Wang is the director of research projects in democratic practice at the Ash Center. A longtime leader in election reform and increasing political participation among marginalized groups, she previously directed policy and research at the Center for Secure and Modern Elections and authored The Politics of Voter Suppression.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the positions of the Ash Center or its affiliates.
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