The anticipated disinformation target

Zoom out: Each state has its own deadlines and processes for handling general election ballots, and some of them will need to know the nominee by the end of the first day of the Democratic National Convention.

• The Democratic establishment is still working out the mechanics of how to reconcile those deadlines — creating an opening for disinformation actors to target voters.

County officials and elections experts told Axios that in the first 24 hours after Biden shared his decision to drop out, they'd already discussed how the voting process might change and the best ways to debunk incoming disinformation attacks about the candidate-selection process.

• "The biggest concern is how do we get the credible information out there given this toxic environment, given the way information spreads, given that people are getting their information in such a fractured ecosystem," Carah Ong Whaley, director of election protection at Issue One, told Axios.
• Whaley chatted with federal officials and state-level secretaries of state Monday about how Biden's decision impacts their disinformation strategies.
• Officials anticipate seeing a wave of disinformation that targets confusion around the voting process.
• But they anticipate they'll stick to the same playbook: Sharing accurate election information with constituents, encouraging everyone to turn to their secretary of state's website for details on how to vote, and debunking as many posts as they can on social media.

Zoom in: Barb Byrum, the county clerk overseeing elections in Michigan's Ingham County, told Axios that she received emails almost immediately on Sunday from local city clerks about how the news changes their August state-focused primary — even though the presidential primaries were in February.

• "Even people who have been clerks for a long time, it's just a moment of panic," Byrum said.

Between the lines: So far, it seems that most of the new disinformation narratives targeting the Democrats' candidate-selection process are just amended versions of what was already circulating before Sunday, Whaley said.

• Those include claims that the new process is the equivalent of an elite-run coup, even though Biden deliberately chose to step aside, Whaley said.

The big picture: Election administrators already had a tough job heading into the 2024 vote as they face increased physical and online security threats and high turnover rates.