False information about elections has proliferated since President Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Even today, more than 1 in 4 Americans believe that the election was “rigged” despite national security officials declaring it the “most secure [election] in history.”
The ongoing spread of misinformation not only undermines public faith in elections, but it also endangers election officials and fuels voter suppression legislation. These rumors also risk interfering with voters’ ability to understand the political process. Artificial intelligence may amplify these dynamics. A recent Brennan Center study showed how easy it is to get the most popular AI chatbots to generate content depicting election fraud, which in turn could be used in disinformation campaigns — as has already happened in this election cycle.
With the midterm elections approaching, political leaders will almost certainly use false information to try to influence voter behavior. The good news is that those seeking to undermine elections with false conspiracy theories tend to return to the same set of tropes. Voters can prepare now by familiarizing themselves with recurring themes in false election information and learning the facts.
During the previous midterm elections, the Brennan Center found that false information about elections revolved around core themes. Repetition helps spread false information more quickly. According to some researchers, the...
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