Election officials across the country are trying to prepare for what is beyond their control.

When millions of Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, some voters may face minor problems, including equipment malfunctions or delays. Election officials say they are prepared for these inevitable challenges, which can arise every election year, but are battling the torrent of misinformation that could ensue, where bad actors or election skeptics will sometimes use issues minors to amplify unsubstantiated claims. widespread electoral fraud.

A glimpse of this problem occurred last week in Kentucky when a voter shared a video online of what officials called “user error” on an electronic ballot marking machine that created the false impression that the device was switching votes from Donald Trump to Kamala Harris. . Election officials said the machine produced a paper ballot, which the user then had several opportunities to confirm before their vote was scanned — and the voter who posted the video was able to vote as planned.

After the machine was taken out of service, Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown shared a video online demonstrating the machine working without a problem and said officials had difficulty reproducing the error. But the damage had already been done, with the original video having been viewed tens of millions of times on social media, where it was shared by users suggesting that voting machines were being used to rig the election.

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Still, the Kentucky incident underscores what election experts have been emphasizing to voters: While minor problems may occur at a few isolated polling places, they are not an indication of widespread voter fraud.

“I hate that this happened here in Laurel County,” Brown posted. “We strive to deliver accurate, safe and secure elections that we are proud to deliver to our citizens.”

Anticipating similar problems on Election Day, election officials in some counties have prepared pre-written fact checks that can be shared online to quickly counter misinformation before it spreads.

“If there’s an issue that comes up on Election Day, we can kind of say, ‘Here’s something you may have seen, here’s actually what happened,'” said Samantha Shepherd, communications manager for Loudoun County, Virginia. “It’s a bit like our crisis communications plan against disinformation.”

Election workers hope clear, transparent communication can stem the tide of what Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, describes as a “fire hose of disinformation” targeting the integrity of elections. country’s elections.

“Election officials have never been better prepared to deliver safe, free and fair elections for the people,” Easterly said.

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This security comes in part from built-in redundancies that allow officials to administer elections securely, even in the event of equipment failure.

“We have a paper backup in almost every jurisdiction in this country, so we can rely on it if the technology isn’t there to help us,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the Board of Elections. the State of North Carolina.

Nationwide, 97% of voters will vote in jurisdictions that provide verifiable paper copies, Easterly said.

That means if an electronic voting machine breaks, election workers can revert to traditional paper ballots, said Derek Tisler, an attorney with the elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit think tank. . In a case like the ballot marking device at issue in Kentucky, the paper ballot showed that the voter’s choice had to be corrected, which was the case before their vote was actually cast. expressed.

“The common theme we see with so many backups, especially for technical issues, is that there is usually a very simple system, on paper, that keeps things moving smoothly until the issue can be resolved,” Tisler said.

Tisler also said there was increased transparency following the 2020 election, with poll observers able to supervise most elements of election administration and election workers often operating in two-person or bipartisan teams .

“We’re wide open. You can come anytime,” said Aaron Ammons, county clerk in Champaign County, Illinois. “The public can come and see the process from start to finish and I highly encourage that.”

The decentralized nature of the country’s election infrastructure also protects against widespread fraud, experts say. Instead of operating under a single national system, elections are typically held at the county level, with some states like Wisconsin and Michigan running elections through thousands of municipal clerks – an arrangement that helps to prevent bad actors from causing large-scale systemic problems.

“We have a large, decentralized election system that takes place in counties and cities across the country, and it’s natural that there will be some bumps in the road,” said Brian Hinkle, a senior election policy researcher at the Movement Advancement Project, a non-profit organization. think tank. “But ultimately, these election officials are working to make sure the process is accurate, safe and secure.”