How can so many voters be so misinformed?

I love elections. I am an election nerd and proud of that fact. I have worked as a poll worker and have been involved with voting education and elections since 2016. Elections are sacred. It gets my attention when someone says an election was rigged or unfair. On election day, we are all equal. Your vote is the same as my vote; there are no differences. Voting should be a holiday and a celebration. The election of 2020 was fair and secure.

What I know:

Republicans filed 62 cases in states where Trump had lost the election, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen. Of those 62 cases, 61 were dismissed for lack of standing, and others were dismissed based on the merits of voter fraud. One case in Pennsylvania was honored, where voters had an additional three days to correct their absentee ballots. Once the courts in these states where Trump had lost didn’t pursue any of these cases, I knew the elections were safe and secure.

In March of 2023, Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News for $1.6 billion, claiming that Fox had aired allegations against the Dominion voting machines that rigged the election for Biden while all along knowing that these allegations were false. Fox settled with Dominion for $787.5 million instead of facing a trial. Many people have complained about Dominion Voting systems, but these complaints are based on false reporting. Fox ended up paying Dominion Voting Systems instead of facing the scrutiny of a trial that would bring more attention to the false reporting they had been doing surrounding Dominion Voting machines.

The film “2000 Mules” claimed how voter fraud occurred during the 2020 election. In February, the group, True Vote, behind the making of the movie, could not come up with any evidence that the state of Georgia asked them to present substantiating any of their claims. Salem Media Group, which put out the movie and book, settled with a defendant from the film for an undisclosed sum and took the movie and book off their platform in May of 2024. The people who produced and made the movie admitted they had no evidence to back up the information in the movie. That is the truth.

I am writing this letter to the people who are unsure about the results of the 2020 election or might want to rethink their position on this issue. I challenge you to take the time to study the facts and information surrounding this election and come up with your own opinion. Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and if you attack the integrity of elections, which many people have, you should be sure you know the facts because the future of our democracy depends on it. This election went through many tests to validate its integrity and came out clean. But as we know, a lie can travel much further than the truth — we just have to continue speaking the truth. Don’t let your voices be silent.

Alex Koplin is a lifetime voter and resident of Homer. He believes it is important when researching a topic to get all points of view.