Building Trust in Elections

Research Studies

Academics and election officials have worked hard to investigate the effectiveness of different strategies for building trust in elections.  Below, we provide short summaries of this research, along with examples of how it has been put into practice.  

Facility tours: Research in Maricopa County, Arizona shows that tours of election facilities, both in-person and virtual, can increase election trust among tour participants—particularly among those who enter the tour more skeptical. (Link to one-pager, summary.)

Informational videos: Straightforward and simply produced public information videos explaining the policies, procedures, and technology that ensure ballots are counted accurately, often featuring election officials, were found to increase voter trust in several states and local jurisdictions. While these videos did not increase trust in every instance, when they did, they did so among independents, Republicans, and Democrats alike. (Link to one-pager, full paper, other related work).

Messaging about election results: Voters are inherently skeptical of election results released after election night; however, simple messages explaining why results may take time can, when presented before Election Day, prevent this decline in trust. (Link to one-pager, full paper).

What Effects do Audits Have on Voter Confidence?: What an audit finds is much less important than how the audit is conducted, so long as the audit does not uncover exceptionally large errors. Structural features of the audit, such as who conducts it and how its results are announced, turn out to be more consequential for voters’ evaluations of election results than the actual number of discrepancies found. (Link to poster, full paper.)

Public information campaigns about election integrity: Public information campaigns delivering factual information about election integrity procedures can increase trust in elections, even in a contentious campaign environment among conservative-leaning voters in a red state. (Link to summary, full paper).

Misinformation and the persistence of election messaging on trust:  Retrospective corrections from credible sources speaking against interest and prebunking messages that prospectively warn of false claims about future elections and provide information about election security practices are effective. In the US, each approach immediately increased election confidence and reduced beliefs in fraud, with prebunking showing somewhat more durable effects. (Link to summary, full paper).

Short-form vertical videos: This type of video – similar to Instagram Reels or TikTok – now dominates American social media, especially for younger adults. Easy-to-produce videos shot in this format, detailing the safeguards on elections, can strongly increase trust in elections and are particularly effective for younger viewers. (Link to summary of study).   

Appearance on local television news: Even when election officials lack funding for a public information campaign, they can still effectively get their message about election safeguards across through the local news. When an election official delivered the same message through both a “public service announcement”-style advertisement and through an appearance on the local news, both were equally impactful in increasing trust among viewers.  (Link to full paper.)

Ballot tracking: Mail voters who use ballot tracking have increased confidence, but a large segment of the voting population seems unaware that this tool is available. (Link to full paper).

Closing the election trust gap among diverse communities: Video messages from election officials geared toward increasing a sense of belonging in the electorate, and messages reminding voters of their federal election protections, are most effective in raising trust among Black respondents. And election officials can be effective messengers regardless of their race or ethnicity; a study found that even when the election official recording a message is the same race as the video's viewer, the message is no more effective than when it comes from another trusted election official. (Link to full paper).