Sponsored by the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, the closed-session event took place at the Michigan Works office in Traverse City, with more sessions planned elsewhere in the coming weeks.
Secretary of State David Scanlan said he’s in favor of using federal election funds, via grants, to help cities and towns modernize aged devices. Scanlan had been reluctant to commit federal Help America Vote Act funds to the effort.
Experts point to the swift rise of artificial intelligence and generative AI, and its early use in political campaigns, as evidence it could be “weaponized to deceive voters or harm candidates” during the general election this fall.
Lawmakers are considering laws that would let officials reduce the number of voting machines and put pictures of all ballots online. Others would criminalize deepfake campaign ads and eliminate using ballot QR codes to count votes.
Elections officials have deployed new voting machines at three vote centers to better accommodate people with disabilities, and a way for voters to “cure” or fix signature problems via text message. In-person voting began Monday morning.
In the face of concerns like AI-powered phishing, tensions around discussing misinformation and physical threats, election workers can turn to several organizations aimed at providing them with help.
In the midst of an election year, evolving AI has in part led to a massive spike in deepfake-powered disinformation, but at a recent Brookings event, experts discussed how lawmakers and officials can play defense.
Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil queried Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar on a state website malfunction. The site showed mail-in ballots had been submitted for the presidential primary when they hadn’t.
With questions arising around election trust and security, some experts are proposing that U.S. voting machines shouldn’t use proprietary software, instead moving toward an open source model.
Some voters Tuesday in Tarrant County, Texas, waited in long lines to cast their ballots. The county is working with KNOWiNK, which provides its electronic poll book system, to provide wait times to the public online.
