Election Tech

The Philadelphia City Commissioners will retain a marketing firm to battle voter deception, boost voter participation and bolster confidence in the electoral process. The campaign will also remind people when and how to vote.

Pennsylvania voters have access to a state ballot tracking system. But some officials and observers wonder if a more comprehensive system might have explained why 268 ballots were delayed last fall.

Waterford, Conn., was among 147 of the state's 169 cities and towns to participate in the drill, which involved protests, drones and cyber attacks, according to state officials who coordinated the event.

The Center for Internet Security’s Cybersecurity Advisory Services Program is aimed at helping strengthen organizations that are involved in elections, health care, education and water utilities.

An AI-generated candidate has filed to run for Cheyenne mayor, and county officials are investigating whether VIC, an acronym for Virtual Integrated Citizen, can appear on the ballot.

The new tool provides information on current and past elections, including locations of ballot boxes and voting centers, directions and hours. It integrates updated voter turnout information with other data streams.

The director and assistant director of the county’s Board of Elections and Registration became certified elections registration administrators through Auburn University and The Election Center.

During a recent joint hearing by the election committees in the Senate and Assembly, officials voiced grave concerns about election security in the age of AI. Voters, they feared, could be deceived by technology during this election season.

Lawmakers in California have proposed legislation on everything from deepfakes to data transparency to large system safeguards. The big question: which bills could pass?

From robocalls to deepfakes, misuse of artificial intelligence threatens to play a significant role in the upcoming presidential election. Legislation from lawmakers nationwide proposes to keep it in check.

The San Francisco company described in a blog post how its chatbots have already been misused to post political spam and generate entire articles. It also described steps it is taking to stop these practices.

Signed by the state’s governor, the new law criminalizes distributing “materially deceptive media.” A first violation would be a misdemeanor, but subsequent violations would be treated as felonies. The law takes effect Oct. 1.

The IT-ISAC has started encouraging election system vendors and security researchers to collaborate on finding and fixing vulnerabilities, with a new event planned for 2025.

More than three-fourths of Americans expect that abuses of artificial intelligence will affect the 2024 presidential election, according to a new national survey.

The tool, which is called the Ballot Verifier, will give its users free and direct access to every ballot cast in Ada County, Idaho, since 2022, said the Ada County Clerk’s Office in April.

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.