Rick Pildes and I have written this oped for CNN Opinion. It begins:

Of all the concerns surrounding Election Day, one of the most important has received almost no attention.

As law professors focused on election law and the law of democracy, we have spent more than 50 years combined following elections and election disputes. We know that no election is perfect, and that some problems will inevitably arise on November 3.

With commentators floating the possibility of a Constitutional crisis, a civil war, breaches in our electronic voting machines and other worst-case scenarios, hyper-vigilant voters and the media must be careful not to undermine our elections by giving excessive play to typical, Election Day problems or hastily spreading viral posts before the facts are verified.In our polarized, frayed-nerves society, there’s a serious possibility that minor issues will be blown out of proportion and cast in sinister terms, especially on social media. Our advice (to both voters and the media) is to slow down, take everything you see or hear with a grain of salt until it is fully vetted, and keep a balanced perspective on the problems that do emerge.