The Academy
Understand an election well enough to check one yourself.
Plain-language explainers on how votes are counted, how elections are attacked, and how to test a claim before you believe it — each one tied to the documented cases in this database.
- 14
- Explainers
- 7
- Tracks
- 121
- Minutes of reading
- 40
- Languages
The first skill
“Election fraud” is five different things in one word
Separating them is what this Academy teaches first, and it is why the database can say an election was attacked and its count was sound in the same breath. Each category needs its own evidence, and confusing them is how a real finding gets dismissed — or an unproven one gets believed.
The recorded numbers do not reflect the votes cast.
Process violationsUnequal media access, repression, illegal financing, vote buying, misuse of state resources.
Foreign interferenceCyberattacks, hack-and-leak, covert foreign financing, impersonation of media or institutions by a foreign state or proxy.
Information operationsTroll farms, fake local-media networks, covert political ads, coordinated inauthentic amplification — foreign or domestic.
Statistical anomaliesPatterns in the data worth examining — explicitly not proof of fraud.
Start here
The flagship explainers
One per track, each written to stand on its own. Read these and the rest of the curriculum follows easily.
What makes an election free and fair
Free and fair are two different tests, and an election has to pass both. A plain-language guide to the conditions — and how real elections fail them.
The paper trail: why elections keep paper
A paper record of every vote is the anchor of a trustworthy count — the thing that lets a result be checked by hand, independent of any computer that could fail or be hacked.
The five things people mean by "election fraud"
"Fraud" is used for at least five completely different problems, only one of which changes the count. A guide to telling them apart — and what evidence each one needs.
What an influence operation is
An influence operation is coordinated, hidden deception — not a single viral post. How they are built from fake accounts, front media, and borrowed identities, and how to recognise one.
How to fact-check an election claim
A repeatable four-move method for checking any viral election claim before you believe or share it — stop, investigate the source, find better coverage, trace it to the origin.
US 2020: how "stop the steal" was built and debunked
The anatomy of the claim that the 2020 US election was stolen — how it was pre-seeded, assembled from debunked pieces, and refuted by recounts, audits, and courts across the spectrum.
Curriculum
The tracks, in the order they build
Read straight through, or drop into the track that answers the question you actually arrived with.
Foundations
How an election actually works, step by step — from marking a ballot to certifying a national result, and the checks that catch errors along the way.
3 articles21 min
Browse the trackIn this track
- Interference is not fraud: the five categoriesWhy an attacked election and a falsified one are different things — the five categories of election interference, and how to tell which one you are looking at.
- How votes are counted and verifiedFrom a single polling station to a certified national result — and the checks that catch errors along the way.
- What happens to your ballot after you cast itThe chain of custody that guards a ballot from the moment you cast it to the moment it is counted — the seals, logs, and reconciliations that make tampering visible.
Electoral systems
How votes become seats and winners. The rules that turn ballots into outcomes — first-past-the-post, proportional representation, ranked choice — and what each one does to the result.
1 article9 min
Browse the trackSafeguards
The layered defences that make a result checkable: paper trails, audits, recounts, observers, and the courts that resolve disputes.
2 articles16 min
Browse the trackIn this track
- The paper trail: why elections keep paperStart hereA paper record of every vote is the anchor of a trustworthy count — the thing that lets a result be checked by hand, independent of any computer that could fail or be hacked.
- What an election audit isAn audit checks a reported result against the paper record. A risk-limiting audit does it efficiently — hand-counting a random sample of ballots to confirm the winner, or trigger a full recount.
Threats
The distinct ways an election can be attacked or faked — and why lumping them together under one word destroys your ability to describe any of them.
2 articles19 min
Browse the trackIn this track
- The five things people mean by "election fraud"Start here"Fraud" is used for at least five completely different problems, only one of which changes the count. A guide to telling them apart — and what evidence each one needs.
- How foreign election interference worksThe small toolkit a foreign state uses to shape another country's vote — hacking, leaks, information operations, covert money, and impersonation — and why it rarely touches the count.
Influence
How influence operations are built and run: the techniques, networks, and narratives used to manipulate what voters see.
2 articles18 min
Browse the trackIn this track
- What an influence operation isStart hereAn influence operation is coordinated, hidden deception — not a single viral post. How they are built from fake accounts, front media, and borrowed identities, and how to recognise one.
- Deepfakes in electionsHow AI-generated audio and video are used to manipulate votes — the last-minute fake, the "liar's dividend," and what the Slovakia 2023 case really shows about their impact.
Verify it yourself
Practical methods for checking an election claim yourself — fact-checking a viral post, spotting a manipulated video, and reading results without being fooled.
2 articles16 min
Browse the trackIn this track
- How to fact-check an election claimStart hereA repeatable four-move method for checking any viral election claim before you believe or share it — stop, investigate the source, find better coverage, trace it to the origin.
- How to spot a deepfakeYou usually can't catch a good deepfake by staring at it. The reliable method is to check a clip's provenance before its content — where it came from, when, and whether an original exists.
Case files
Anatomies of specific elections and operations, each tied to its entry in the evidence database.
2 articles22 min
Browse the trackIn this track
- US 2020: how "stop the steal" was built and debunkedStart hereThe anatomy of the claim that the 2020 US election was stolen — how it was pre-seeded, assembled from debunked pieces, and refuted by recounts, audits, and courts across the spectrum.
- Venezuela 2024: what documented falsification looks likeThe anatomy of the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election — a result announced but never shown, the citizen-collected tally sheets that exposed it, and how independent verification confirmed what happened.
How this is written
Explainers you are meant to check
Tied to documented cases
Claims link to the election, operation, or archived source they came from — not to another explainer.
One standard, every country
The same five categories and five evidence tiers apply everywhere, including to Western democracies.
Self-tests, never scores
Some articles end with a few questions. Nothing is timed, scored, or stored — the explanation under each answer is the point.
Free and translated
No account, no paywall, no email. Every article is published in every language the site serves.
Now use it on a real case
The Academy explains the method. The database is where it is applied — every documented finding tiered by how strong the evidence behind it actually is.