Originally published in the Post Register as an op-ed.
We’re fond of saying that we live in an “information age.” Just about anything you want to know (and even things you don’t want to know) can be found within seconds using a computer that fits in the palm of your hand.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to know what’s accurate unless you pay careful attention and take the time to cultivate information and media literacy. And unfortunately, misinformation tends to spread faster than accurate information.
A few years ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a study in which they found that misinformation on Twitter spread six times faster than accurate information.
With social media, all you need is a misleading headline and a few talking heads saying whatever comes to mind, and suddenly, you have the makes of a very shareable piece of inaccurate, misleading or downright wrong information.
What makes this even more frustrating for those of us who deal in facts, verification and nuance, these bite-sized bits of unsubstantiated information can take forever to debunk. Those with an unpopular agenda often use firehose tactics to spread misinformation and attempt to win people to their side. They provide a barrage of inaccurate tidbits that only take a few seconds to share. But debunking those narratives can take hours.
A good example is available right in our own community in the form of a November 19 post about ranked-choice voting on a local news website. The meat of the story focused on the fact that Nicholas Contos, the chair of the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee, doesn’t like ranked-choice voting.
Contos didn’t provide any support for his statements beyond his “belief” in them. Let’s look at one of these statements. He said he believes that ranked-choice voting would lead to worse representation.
Results in states like Maine don’t bear out this statement. For example, the Council of State Governments points out that in nine out of 11 gubernatorial elections before implementation, the winner had less than 50% of the vote, and three governors received less than 40%. That changed after ranked-choice voting. It looks like representation before was worse.
Additionally, cities with ranked-choice voting saw increased voter turnout. A 2020 study found a 10% increase in voter turnout after implementing the process in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Additionally, a 2021 study conducted by researchers in Wisconsin and Iowa found that ranked-choice voting resulted in higher youth voter turnout.
The ability for winning candidates to show broader appeal, plus increased voter turnout, points to more and better representation rather than worse representation. According to a paper published by Arizona State University, our current status quo relies heavily on powerful parties to gatekeep the process, resulting in potentially less representative outcomes.
As you can see, countering the unsubstantiated “belief” in one entry on a news site took much longer than it took to state something, have it published and move on.
Another big election season is approaching, and it promises to be tiring as we try to sift through the unsubstantiated information.
Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a national recognized financial expert, writer, speaker and podcaster. She is the chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.