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ANDY WALKER: Election reporting in the age of social media

Chief electoral officer Tim Garrity is now dealing with a problem unique to the social media age.

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With few real-time options to obtain the results of the recent Cornwall-Meadowbank byelection, many Islanders interested in the results turned to social media. For followers of What’s Up PEI, a Facebook app that bills itself “the ultimate community hub for all things P.E.I.,” the information they got was 100 per cent wrong.

Despite the fact that only a few results had trickled in by 8:30 p.m., the page was posting that Liberal Leader Robert Mitchell had won the seat. The page, as well as Mitchell’s own Facebook page, began to fill with congratulatory messages.

However, within a half hour, Elections P.E.I. had posted the final and “real” results. They showed a very different picture. Green candidate Tayte Willows had won by a margin of 1,184 to 955. That was Mitchell’s second byelection defeat since becoming leader and he resigned two days later.

In a statement to The........

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