Voters Distrust Delayed Election Results, But a Prebunking Message Inoculates Against Distrust

Counting and certifying election results in the United States can take days and even weeks following election day. These delays are often linked to distrust in elections, but does delay cause distrust? What can election officials do to counteract distrust if counting most ballots and announcing results cannot occur on election night? Using a pre-registered survey experiment of nearly 10,000 Americans, this paper shows that informing voters about longer-than-expected vote counting time induces a large, significant decrease in trust in the election. However, viewing a ‘prebunking’ video in advance of being informed of the delay in results more than makes up for the delay-induced decrease in election trust. Our findings have two important implications. First, unexpected delays in calling elections induce distrust even without misinformation from third parties. Second, providing voters with information about vote counting and the legitimate reasons for delays increases trust and mitigates the distrust induced by delays.