Facebook Launches Election Tools to Help NJ Vote, Prevent Misinformation

With voting in New Jersey’s 2021 elections well underway as voters this year have access to mail in ballots and early voting–as well as being able to vote in person at their polling place on Nov. 2– Facebook has launched a variety of tools and initiatives to help voters find the information they need to cast their ballots and track the vote, as well as to prevent election interference and the spread of misinformation.

Facebook’s 2021 Election tools include:

• Notifications and Election Day reminders to provide helpful information from state resources, including information on how to vote, how to check the status of voter registration

• Voting Information Center to help folks find their state’s registration information, learn how to access a ballot while living abroad and connect interested parties with opportunities to volunteer as a poll worker.

• The Elections Operations Center, which monitors for emerging threats such as voter suppressing content and attempts of foreign and domestic interference

• Reactivating the Voting Alerts tool for election officials to send notifications on Facebook about the election to people in their jurisdiction and recruit poll workers

• Reviewing content and removing anything that violates Facebook’s voter interference policies through a combination of AI and human review

• Activation of Facebook’s fact-checking program to take action against false claims about voter fraud and other misinformation, and to check and rate potential misinformation about the election in order to warn viewers of false or misleading content

Many of these initiatives were deployed effectively to dispel and counter misinformation during California’s gubernatorial recall election in September.