[I'm working on a draft article called When Are Lies Constitutionally Protected?, and I thought I'd serialize it here, since I still have plenty of time to improve it; I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! (You can also read the whole article here; all the posts about it will go into this thread.)]
Much of the concern about generally punishing lies during elections, though, stems from the broad range of lies that could be covered and the potential controversies about what is the truth and what is a factual claim and what is opinion. Narrower restrictions might pose fewer problems.
This is particularly so with regard to lies about the when, where, how, and who of elections: For instance, lies about when polls close, where one can vote, whether one can vote online, by mail, and the like, and who is eligible to vote.[1] These lies can generally be narrowly defined and tend to be easily verifiable; and many such lies are likely to happen shortly before the election,[2] when established alternative institutions—election officials, candidates, the media, and others—might not have the time to undo the effects of the lie.
