Millions of Americans harbor legitimate concerns about the integrity of the 2024 election, particularly in the swing state of Georgia, where the reported 2020 results were marred by allegations of substantial ballot fraud.

Yet, top election officials in Georgia have sought to assuage those doubts and insisted both that the election processes are secure and that allegations of fraud are "fake," according to Axios.

Those reassurances, however, paired as they were with vehement condemnations of those who spread supposed mis- and disinformation -- or simply ask probing questions -- may prove insufficient to completely quell the skepticism some voters maintain about how elections are handled in Georgia and other states.

Blunt words for those who question election results

In an interview with CBS News' "60 Minutes," Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office, delivered a blunt message to those who might question this year's election results: "I'm sorry that your candidate lost. But the rules are the rules. The law is the law. And the count is the count."

Sterling, a Republican, gained both fame and notoriety in the aftermath of the 2020 election by flatly rejecting the claims of determinative fraud by former President Donald Trump and his supporters, and he seemed to indicate that he is prepared to do the same thing once again in the coming days and weeks.

"There's some you're never going to convince and you just have to accept that you're never going to convince them," he said of those who challenge the reported results. "But for the vast majority of Americans who have questions, basically they think, 'Well, if there's this much smoke, there must be something. Nobody would lie this much about it.' So I think there's savable souls there, who basically, they want to understand."

Sterling dismisses voter fraud concerns as "fake," warns they could result in violence

"We have to tell them over and over again, 'Voter suppression's fake. Voter fraud is fake. It's used to raise money and get you angry,'" Sterling said of election skeptics.

Per Axios, Sterling noted that increased scrutiny of this year's election processes -- brought about by the questions raised amid 2020's disputed contest -- will make 2024 "the safest and most secure election in history."

"The reason we have ballots is to avoid bullets," he added. "And if you say, 'Ballots don't matter anymore,' there's only one logical direction to go."

Efforts to downplay fraud suspicions only make some voters more skeptical

To be sure, despite widespread suspicions and allegations of voter fraud, very few cases are ever fully identified and prosecuted, a fact that the media and election officials like Sterling often attempt to drive home to counter the doubters.

Yet, doubts persist in part because of the condescending and dismissive manner in which legitimate concerns about election integrity and other irregularities are swiftly brushed aside by the media and election officials.

For example, as laid out by CNN, the new narrative that it now takes several days or even weeks for some states to determine who won the election, when many Americans can recall that election results were typically known by the end of Election Day, or at the latest the following morning, in prior election cycles.

Part of that dubious narrative involves talk of supposed electoral "mirages," in which one party or the other will appear to gain a victorious lead in a state only for that advantage to suddenly dissipate and be reversed by late-night announcements of vote counts or late-arriving mail ballots that conveniently and overwhelmingly favor the other candidate.

In the end, the media narratives and adamant statements from election officials all the effect of deepening the suspicions of skeptical voters by seemingly laying the groundwork for a significant and non-transparent shift in the election's results from one supposed winner to another