US election officials say voting should go smoothly and ask people not to be misled by conspiracy theories

() – American voters go to the polls this Tuesday to elect the country’s next leaders in a massive democratic exercise in which tens of millions of votes will be cast without incident.

However, false claims of voter fraud in 2020 and repeated accusations of cheating by former President Donald Trump mean that everything from voter eligibility to logistical issues such as long lines, ballot functionality and vote counting , will be closely analyzed, especially in key states.

Election officials across the U.S., particularly in swing states, have vowed to maintain the integrity of the vote and urged voters not to be misled by conspiracy theories.

“Here in Georgia, it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday. “Our systems are secure and our people are prepared.”

The 2024 election has already been the subject of accusations from Trump and other Republicans that the process is “rigged.” Trump did repeated false claims that Democrats are cheating in the election, distorting isolated problems with the vote to prime his followers to believe the election is not legitimate if he loses.

He has said that noncitizen voting is a widespread problem, that there is no verification for foreign or military votes, that election officials are using early voting to commit fraud and that a large number of mail-in ballots are illegitimate. These statements are incorrect and unfounded.

Overall, US elections are an extraordinary effort: in 2020, more than 161 million voters cast ballots, which were counted in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five US territories, in a total of 132,556 voting centers with the help of 775,101 electoral workers, according to the US Election Assistance Commission.

Federal elections are also largely decentralized, with local jurisdictions primarily responsible for tabulating, reporting, and certifying results.

Overall, the vast majority of voters have a positive view of the voting experience. Most voters are confident that this election will be run correctly, regardless of which candidate they support, according to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center.

However, supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris are much more confident, with 90% believing the election will go smoothly, compared to 57% of Trump supporters. The latter are particularly skeptical about whether absentee and mail-in ballots will be counted correctly.

Harris supporters are also more confident than Trump supporters that it will be clear who won the election once all the votes are counted, with a difference of 85% to 58%.