Today's trust tip: Prepare your audience for what to expect on Election Day (and beyond)
Hi there. Mollie here.
No one is expecting things to be “normal” for the remainder of 2020, and the upcoming election is no exception.
As I talk to friends and family, they have a lot of anxiety and concerns ahead of Election Day due to all the unknowns surrounding it. And it makes sense — this election looks very different from previous elections.
As journalists, we obviously can’t quell all unknowns. (Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have some future vision, though?) But what we can do is help manage our audience’s expectations for election night and beyond.
So let’s think about what we DO know:
We know due to the increase of mail-in ballots, it’s possible that we won’t see election results for days, or maybe even weeks, after Election Day. We know people in power have been making accusations of voter fraud. And we know there’s already been widespread misinformation about voting and the election, and that there’s an opportunity for more of this as conspiracy theories thrive off of confusion and time.
(PEN America compiled a really helpful tip sheet of what the public should expect ahead of the election.)
Equipped with that knowledge, how can you prepare your audience for what to expect?
WITF, one of our newsroom partners in Pennsylvania, created a box that runs alongside the station’s voting stories and election previews that explains why the public shouldn’t expect election results on election night (and how that's not totally unique to this year.)
“Results of the Nov. 3 election in Pennsylvania, and across the country, likely won’t be known for days. The counting of ballots continues after election night most years. This year’s expected surge in mailed ballots means election offices will need extra time to tally all the votes.”
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