Election officials face an increasingly demanding set of responsibilities, from protecting their systems from cybersecurity threats to managing and responding to emergencies. At the same time, election officials increasingly report facing threats and harassment, often motivated by mis- and disinformation, which may be contributing to increasing turnover rates. These challenges are compounded by limited budgets for training staff on new and emerging threats.
Despite these headwinds, election officials have become the most trusted sources of authoritative information about elections in the country. Their voices are crucial for tamping down misinformation about voting procedures, but they must first be equipped with the necessary skills and strategies.
That’s why this year CDT partnered with the Center for Technology and Civic Life to develop “Combatting Election Misinformation,” a course designed to help election officials navigate and respond to misinformation.
The course, originally created ahead of the 2020 election, relaunched in June of 2024. Much has changed since the original training was developed in 2020: the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and its attendant social cleavages, the Stop the Steal movement and January 6th insurrection, and the introduction of widely available generative AI.
Many of the goals for this course remain the same as in 2020, as election officials are key actors in upholding election integrity, providing authoritative information about the time, place, and manner of elections, and countering voter suppression misinformation. The course is intended to support election officials in those roles by teaching terms and concepts related to information operations, helping them identify and respond to mis-, dis-, and malinformation, and preparing them to respond with a defensive communications strategy.
The changes to the course reflected the changing election information environment ahead of November. Generative AI tools like chatbots and image generators have the potential to increase the scale and sophistication of false and misleading content online. Deepfakes are a major concern, as illustrated by a robocall that impersonated President Biden telling New Hampshire residents not to vote in January’s primary. Some AI image generators produce photorealistic images—such as Joe Biden in a hospital bed or ballot box theft in Venezuela—that could be used to support false or misleading narratives. OpenAI recently released a report detailing attempts by Iranian operatives to use Chat-GPT to develop messaging about US presidential candidates for use in an online influence operation. Generative AI can also make microtargeting easier, opening the door to hyperlocal disinformation targeting particular demographic groups such as minority language communities. While these technologies have not yet caused massive disruptions that some predicted, observed risks remain serious.
Given these concerns' urgency, CDT partnered with CTCL to train election officials across the country. In past collaborations with CTCL on courses covering cybersecurity and post-election audits CDT hopes this latest initiative will provide additional tools ensuring elections continue becoming more secure fair trusted
