ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) — With so much conflicting information coming out during the 2020 presidential election, one professor provides some insight on how false and inaccurate information can cause voters to feel doubtful and confused. 

Bill Schmidt, a professor specializing in decision making at Cornell University, says talk of illegal ballots and voter fraud could be contributing to the political divide in the country. 

"You know particularly if you have a belief that, in this case, an election is going to go in one particular way. You're really susceptible to thinking that something must have happened. This couldn't have been fair, something happened to overcome what I thought were insurmountable odds."

He says this could make a voter fall victim to inaccurate information. One form being misinformation, which is false, but not intended to cause harm and disinformation, which is false information intended to make people believe or behave in a certain way. This has the potential to create panic, especially during a presidential election.

"Often times this false information and particularly fake news, disinformation within that is intended to sow confusion, elevate frustration. I think it's not surprising that now, we're seeing that in the aftermath of the election."

Schmidt says as the results of the election will likely bring out more and more false information about the process of counting absentee ballots.

"As the election becomes more clear, there seems to be an effort underway to cast doubt, sow confusion, increase polarization around that outcome," Schmidt said.

One of the biggest factors in the spread of false information, whether people know it's false or not, is information that affirms what someone already believes. 

"It quickly turns in the mind of a recipient, in some cases, from being a view of oh that's plausible to yeah that definitely happened," Schmidt said.

With so many sources of information, it's not hard for voters to find something, true or not, that validates their beliefs. When this happens, it can quickly lead to a snowball effect.

"In the context of elections and election counting, it can be really troubling because the vote counting process is complex and it is different by jurisdiction," Schmidt said.

With so many states counting ballots and people not knowing whose vote was counted and what was on each ballot, Schmidt says people can feel a disconnect between their own vote and the votes that are being reported.

"With that uncertainty about what's going on, there's a lot of opportunity for people to insert stories."

While the results of the election are still not in, Schmidt says it's important to remember every person in every state, whether it's blue or red on the election map, will not vote for the same candidate.

"Every state, every county, every city, every street has got a mixture of Americans with different views," Schmidt said.

Schmidt says transparency during a process, like counting absentee ballots, is the best way for someone to find the truth. Many boards of elections are now providing live streams as the presidential race comes down to the wire.

Philadelphia's absentee ballot live stream can be found here.

Georgia's absentee ballot live stream can be found here.