HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia state leaders on both sides of the aisle are working around the clock to campaign and safeguard the elections process.
The Hampton Branch of the NAACP will host the ‘Protect Your Vote’ panel at Bethel AME Church at 2521 North Armistead Ave. in Hampton Sept. 9.
“Misinformation is the number one issue that we want to dispel,” said Gaylene Kanoyton, Virginia NAACP vice president and president of the Hampton branch of the NAACP. We want everyone to know that their vote is protected.”
The meeting will discuss concerns with inaccurate information circulating online and through poll watcher organizations.
“Some of the [mis]information is that people in other countries are applying for absentee ballots or applying to register to vote in our country,” Kanoyton said. “We have citizens that work abroad. We have military that are stationed abroad, and they can apply for absentee ballots. We don’t want to confuse that with voter fraud, because it’s not voter fraud.”
Dr. Ben Melusky, an Old Dominion University political science associate, agrees, describing this to 10 On Your Side, “as perfectly legal. We have uniformed officers overseas. They are registered to vote, and they are allowed to. As well as, if you are registered in your home state, but due to business obligations, you are out of state or out of the country, you are still legally allowed to apply for an absentee ballot.”
However, Melusky adds that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is looking into misinformation campaigns internationally from Russia, China and Iran.
“The most recent report was that there is an expectation that there is going to be misinformation campaigns from two main sources,” Melusky said. “The first is international. There is an expectation, consistent with what we saw in 2020-2022 and since the invasion of Ukraine, there was a greater expectation that Russia is going to try to engage in election interference through disinformation. … There is further expectation that China will continue to engage in disinformation campaigns.”
Melusky added that “there are concerns from international sources as well as the advent of [artificial intelligence] AI impacting our election this season.”
He explained the recent inaccurate information circulating on social media X following the announcement of Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for president. The information inaccurately shared in nine states said Harris was in ineligible to be on the presidential ballot.
“There’s a larger concern of AI and the expansion of, in the last several years, everything from deepfakes with false and false information,” Melusky said.
Melusky said there are precautions put in place to address voter security issues.
“Our system is set up in such a way that it is difficult for an individual who is not eligible to actually vote to gain access to it,” Melusky said.
Last month, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Order 35 to strengthen security protecting voters. In July, Attorney General Jason Miyares worked to push Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or the SAVE Act, which, if passed, will require people to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
“After fleeing political persecution in communist Cuba, my mother began her long journey of becoming a U.S. citizen,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares. “I remember attending her naturalization ceremony and witnessing her pride after voting in her first presidential election. I urge the Senate to support the SAVE Act because only citizens, not illegal immigrants, should vote in America’s elections. Those who think otherwise owe an apology to the naturalized Americans who played by the rules.”
Said Melusky: “Even if there were numbers of individuals who illegally voted, those small numbers are not typically enough to have any direct impact on an election, especially when we’re talking about national elections. For Congress to pass the SAVE Act, there’s kind of an efficiency argument here. Are we spending a lot of resources to try to pass this and then putting other institutional hurdles in place that then the states themselves will have to be the ones to implement? It comes down to individual rights versus the larger collective security.”
Melusky and Kanoyton believe in the electoral system.
“When we say that our elections are important and secure,” Melusky said, “that is 100% the truth.”
10 On Your Side is your local election headquarters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
