Nigeria, Oct. 19 -- A voice message arrives on election morning. It sounds like an INEC official announcing that voting has been postponed. A woman at Mbiama, Kontagora, Ife or Ogoja who has arranged transport and prepared to queue stays home. The message is false. By the time she learns the truth, voting has ended.

Elsewhere, a fabricated video appears to show a candidate insulting a community. Anger spreads faster than the correction. Even after the deception is exposed, resentment remains.

These situations are hypothetical, but the danger is plain: an election can be distorted without altering a single ballot. Mislead people about when to vote, whom to trust or what happened at their polling unit, and their choices can be manipulated...