Electoral misinformation is incorrect or misleading content about elections, such as false claims about voting procedures, candidates, results, or election integrity. The term describes the content, not necessarily the motive: it may be shared by people who believe it, or deliberately circulated to influence public understanding.
It matters because misleading claims can confuse voters, weaken trust in election processes, and spread quickly through social networks and messaging groups. In real campaigns, analysts assess the claim’s accuracy, source, and spread separately from questions of intent or coordination. Repeated posts do not by themselves prove that bots or an organized operation are involved. Defenses include checking claims against reliable election information, tracing their provenance, and communicating corrections clearly while avoiding unsupported conclusions about who spread them or why.