Introduction Individuals in search of information are flooded with content as they try to understand the progression of COVID-19 around the world and on their doorsteps. While TV and radio remain important sources of information,4 many individuals are seeking additional answers online. Social media platforms note global increases in usage,5 search engines report surges in COVID-19 queries,6 and online news outlets are seeing considerably higher than normal traffic.7 In the early days of the health crisis, the WHO coined the term “infodemic” to characterize the “over-abundance of information – some accurate and some not – that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.”8 While the implications of this information overload are multifaceted, this brief will focus on how viral misinformation, hate speech and disinformation-laced influence operations by foreign and domestic actors impact the information environment around COVID-19, with implications for electoral integrity, trust in democracy and the protection of fundamental human rights, including political rights. Even as election authorities work to mitigate public health challenges to conduct elections safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, gains will be diminished absent sustained efforts to ensure voters have accurate and actionable information. The spring of 2020 brought daily announcements of postponed elections,9 and election administrators that proceeded with polls quickly adopted a range of procedural changes that altered how, where and when voters cast their ballots.10 Given these rapid shifts, it is imperative that voters receive reliable guidance on how to register to vote and cast their ballots safely. Prospective poll workers need similarly reliable information to make decisions on whether and how to contribute Disinformation is false or misleading safely to the electoral process. The combination of information that is created or disseminated an overabundance of information and rapid changes with the intent to cause harm or to benefit to once-familiar processes creates an information the perpetrator. The intent to cause harm landscape ripe for potential misunderstanding and may be directed toward individuals, groups, malfeasance that could have serious implications institutions or processes. for electoral integrity. In turn, erosions of electoral integrity can reduce public confidence in the Misinformation is false or misleading legitimacy of electoral outcomes and thus directly information that is shared without the threaten democratic governance. intent to cause harm or realization that There are multiple layers contributing to the infodemic. First, the public is confronted with an enormous volume of information from a range of sources. The difficulties navigating this deluge are magnified by the lack of knowledge and consensus about the virus and its transmission, even among authoritative public health sources. Some individuals further pollute the information space by generating and amplifying viral misinformation and hate speech in accordance with their own world views and biases. These interrelated challenges are a vulnerability in democratic societies that anti-democratic actors are already seeking to exploit. There is ample evidence, International Foundation for Electoral Systems it is incorrect. In some cases, actors may unknowingly perpetuate the spread of disinformation by sharing content they believe to be accurate among their networks. Hate Speech is “Any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor.” (United Nations) -5-