Vaccine Opponents and Voter Fraud Zealots: A Marriage Made in Conspiracy Heaven

Let’s start with a classic conspiracy recipe.

Take an actual, but very rare, problem. Claim it’s massive and widespread. Include handpicked cherries of data and several heaping cups of misinformation. Stir in a dash of hypocrisy and then bake in wild accusations. Complete the recipe by marinating in a tinfoil-lined dish of deception, then spin vigorously for an unspecified period of time. Serve warmed over to disciples with a dollop of disparagement.

This is the dish that both groups (anti-vaxxers and voter fraud accusers) put on their menus to attract acolytes. Folks who take the time to look at the actual facts usually reject it out of hand. However, these false claims may be registering with more folks these days because they’re drowning in a tsunami of social-media misinformation. Conspiracy theories are now the main course served up by these coalitions, and are no longer the side dish.

Inventing problems where none exist

Let’s start with voter fraud claims. Republicans say they’re deeply concerned about massive levels of voter fraud across the country. President Trump repeatedly voices this myth, claiming that millions of fraudulent ballots cost him the popular vote in 2016. He alleges that if we “deduct the millions of people…