Artificial Intelligence

How AI is being used to influence elections. Plus other stories from ID, AZ, PA, WA the US and the World.

I am seeing two main areas where Artificial Intelligence (AI) can impact our elections. The first area involves ‘deep fakes’, where AI is used to create fake content that can fool people into thinking it is real. Several states and Congress are pursuing legislation, and the Federal Elections Commission is debating regulations to curtail the use of such technology in the 2024 election. It remains to be seen if this will be effective. For example, what about content that originates outside of the US that goes viral on social media?

The second area I can only scratch the surface at this time but will be researching it further. Recall that before and after the 2020 election, social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter began ‘fact-checking’ posts and restricting or even banning those that posted content that were deemed as ‘mis’ or ‘dis’ information. The Twitter Files and the Missouri vs Biden case linked these censorship efforts to government entities, including CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) which oversees elections.

Matt Taibbi, who was central to the Twitter Files revelations, is now part of a new story alleging a trove of documents from a government whistleblower providing even greater details on the genesis of that effort. The documents have yet to be released to the public, but the allegations include government use of private entities, such as the Election Integrity Project (EIP), to push censorship on social media platforms. A similar allegation was reported by US Representative Jim Jordan’s Weaponization of Government committee a few weeks ago.

There is more to be learned about these stories, but I think concern is warranted that government is guiding private entities in order to maintain plausible deniability that they are not violating the 1st Amendment.

How does this info relate to AI? I wrote a few weeks ago about a company called Logically and a product they have called Logically Intelligence. Recently, they were engaged by the State of Washington to use their AI technology to monitor social media and provide alerts if mis/dis/mal (MDM) information was going viral. A sample report was obtained showing what the product can do. In this case, it reported on a growing narrative that could degrade confidence in elections, discourage individuals from voting, and cause investigations of Election Offices.

Other states have also engaged or are seeking engagement with private companies to provide this function (GroupSense is another player in this space with a state contract). Meanwhile, the Washington State Republican Party filed an ethics complaint over the use of the AI product indicating it was tantamount to government funded censorship of its citizens. Does this sound familiar? Are we witnessing a repeat of the censorship of 2020 and 2021 only this time turbo charged with AI?

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ID: Boise City Council Race Spawns Recount - The difference was just 15 votes between Kathy Corless and Josh Johnson. Johnson requested a recount, which included a hand recount of 5% of the ballots. According to Idaho statute, if the hand count varies from the original machine count by more than 1%, then it would trigger a full hand recount. However, the counts matched, and the balance of the recount was done via machine which showed no difference from the original count.

AZ: Cochise County Supervisors Indicted for Election Interference - Supervisors Judd and Crosby both refused to certify the 2022 election last year before the deadline, but the county did eventually certify the election a few days later. Nevertheless, the Attorney General, Kris Mayes, had them both indicted. More lawfare?

US: Tracking Big Tech Influence - This website shows what big tech platforms are doing to push lopsided content to influence elections. Behind this is the work of Dr. Robert Epstein who I wrote about earlier.

WA: Ballots Found After Election - How many ways is voting via mail less secure than voting in person? Here’s a new one - people in WA put ballots into at least two separate USPS boxes without knowing they had been decommissioned for security reasons. The ballots were discovered and delivered after the election day raising concerns as to whether they should be counted or not.

PA: More Mail-In Ballots Delayed and Not Counted - About 100-150 ballots did not get delivered and the USPS does not really have an answer as to why.

PA: Follow Up to Vote Total Losses - Last time, I posted about a citizen group that monitored and captured vote totals dropping on the Secretary of State website. Initial attempts to find answers were ignored, but the video went viral and forced the PA GOP to get involved and the Secretary of State to respond. While the SoS stated the anomaly was formatting errors or incorrect files being uploaded, the GOP sent a follow up letter with additional questions. The citizen group (Audit the Vote PA) is also seeking an expanded role in election monitoring by being present at future elections when updates are being posted to the SoS website.

AZ: Access to Absentee Envelopes Denied - Kari Lake sued for access to view absentee ballot signatures but was denied by the court. Allowing public oversight of the signature verification process is a contentious issue even here in Idaho where some counties have allowed it and others have gone to court to prevent it.

World: Philippines Bans Smartmatic - Much of the voting machine technology in use today spawned from Smartmatic’s original design. Smartmatic has now been banned from use in the Philippines due to its involvement with a US Justice Department corruption probe. Additional background can be found in this substack.

US: 2023 Legislation Recap - The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) monitors legislation in each state and election bills continued to be a hot topic in 2023. Absentee voting, private funding, protection of election officials, and voter ID were some of the most legislated areas. Over 2000 bills were introduced in the 2023 session which is not as high as the 2021 session but higher than what has been seen historically.