Elections and Disinformation Are Colliding Like Never Before in 2024 | Tiffany Hsu, Stuart A. Thompson, Steven Lee Myers/The New York Times

Billions of people will vote in major elections this year — around half of the global population, by some estimates — in one of the largest and most consequential democratic exercises in living memory. The results will affect how the world is run for decades to come. At the same time, false narratives and conspiracy theories have evolved into an increasingly global menace. Baseless claims of election fraud have battered trust in democracy. Foreign influence campaigns regularly target polarizing domestic challenges. Artificial intelligence has supercharged disinformation efforts and distorted perceptions of reality. All while major social media companies have scaled back their safeguards and downsized election teams. Read Article

Georgia voters push for hand marked paper ballots in trial over Dominion voting machine security | Megan Butler/Courthouse News Service

Georgia voters and members of the Coalition for Good Governance, a nonprofit focused on election transparency, testified in a trial challenging Georgia’s use of Dominion ballot marking devices. The plaintiffs argue that the QR codes on the ballots, used by the Dominion system, make it difficult for voters to ensure their intended selections are accurately conveyed and counted. The voters expressed a lack of trust in the machine system and preferred hand-marked paper ballots. Read Article

National: Only 4% of US States Fully Prepared for Cyber-Attacks Targeting Election | James Coker/InfoSecurity Magazine

A survey conducted by Arctic Wolf reveals that less than 4% of U.S. states are fully prepared to detect and recover from election-targeted cybersecurity incidents, with 14.3% described as ‘not at all prepared’ and 42.9% as ‘somewhat prepared’ for the upcoming 2024 election cycle. Similarly, 16.1% of cities were found to be unprepared, and 41.1% only somewhat prepared for election-based cyber threats, while only 3.6% of city officials claimed full readiness. Over 80% of respondents anticipate an increase or maintenance of cyber incidents related to the 2024 elections compared to 2020, and despite these concerns, 36% report inadequate budgets to address cybersecurity around the upcoming election cycle. Disinformation campaigns (50.7%) and phishing attacks targeting election officials or staff (47.1%) were identified as the top two election cybersecurity threats, with concerns about the impact of AI technologies, such as large language models and deepfakes, in creating more sophisticated disinformation and phishing campaigns. Read Article

National: Phishing, Disinformation Top 2024 Election Security Concerns | Jule Pattison-Gordon/Government Technology

Election security leaders in 2024 are expected to confront a range of cybersecurity threats, blending both traditional and emerging challenges such as sophisticated phishing and disinformation campaigns amplified by generative AI. A survey conducted by the Center for Digital Government revealed that election officials and workers feel unprepared for these threats, which primarily include concerns about disinformation, phishing, and data breaches. Deepfake technology, evolving rapidly in recent months, poses a particular challenge in disseminating false narratives, with 51% of state and local government respondents identifying disinformation campaigns as a top concern. Phishing, becoming more advanced, presents unique difficulties for election officials who often receive emails from unknown voters and need to open attachments related to absentee ballots. Read Article

National: State Legislators Tighten A.I. Rules to Combat Deceptive Election Ads | David W. Chen/The New York Times

State lawmakers are rushing to address the increasing sophistication of false or misleading AI-created political ads. By early January, 13 states had introduced legislation related to the regulation of AI in campaign advertising, with penalties ranging from fines to felony convictions. The bills generally aim to require disclosure of AI involvement in ads, with some allowing candidates to pursue civil action. Read Article

National: ‘Better be scared’: threats of political violence foretell tense election year | Rachel Leingang/The Guardian

A recent surge in threats against election officials and judges in the United States is creating a tense atmosphere ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The threats include incidents such as a judge overseeing an election interference case against Donald Trump having her home visited by police following a fake emergency call, attempts to do the same to a prosecutor, and bomb threats to state capitols believed to be hoaxes. The threats, often targeting women and people of color, disrupt and intimidate those involved, causing chaos and making it challenging for election officials to perform their duties. Experts warn that the wave of threats, coupled with increasing support for political violence, could lead to a volatile environment as the future of U.S. democracy is perceived to be at stake in the upcoming election. Read Article

Why Arizona is worried about finishing the presidential election on time but other states aren’t | Jen Fifield/Votebeat

Arizona faces a unique and challenging election timeline, raising concerns about delayed ballot delivery for military voters and late result reporting to Congress. Factors contributing to this situation include a new state law ensuring recounts, a federal law hardening the presidential race deadline, voter-friendly mail ballot rules, and an extended timeframe for counting ballots. Other states with more efficient election timelines have shorter mail ballot periods, quicker counting laws, faster certification dates, and reduced risk of recounts. Arizona officials are calling for changes to key dates to avoid potential delays, with options including adjusting the primary date, tightening voter-friendly rules, compressing result certification timelines, and addressing the recount process. However, aligning Republican lawmakers, county officials, and Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs on proposed changes poses challenges, and the window for adjustments is narrowing. Read Article

Arkansas Attorney General again rejects ballot language for proposed amendment that would require hand counted paper ballots | Michael R. Wickline/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has rejected proposed ballot language for the Restore Election Integrity Arkansas committee’s second version of a proposed constitutional amendment requiring paper ballots in the state. The proposed amendment would mandate hand marked paper ballots and restricting the use of voting machines to voters with disabilities. The proposed amendment would prohibit precenct tabulation and require that “certification of all elections shall be based on a hand count of the votes performed and verified by human intelligence”. The rejection letter stated unresolved issues with the definition of a “disabled voter.” The committee also faced a rejection for its proposed constitutional amendment imposing limits on absentee voting. A complaint filed against the Secretary of State and the Board of Election Commissioners is seeking the Arkansas Supreme Court’s certification for the proposed amendments’ ballot language. Read Article

Georgia: Trial gets underway for constitutional challenge to state’s voting system | Kate Brumback/Associated Press

In a trial that began Tuesday, voters are asking U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg to order the state to stop using the Dominion Voting Systems touchscreen machines used by nearly every in-person voter statewide. Instead, they argue, most voters should fill out hand-marked paper ballots, with a touchscreen machine at each polling place for people with disabilities. That would ensure voter intent is accurately captured and that meaningful audits can be done, they argue. Read Article

Georgia Speaker Burns seeks to end ballot QR codes, add oversight | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican, has proposed the elimination of encoding voter selections on paper ballots and increased oversight of the secretary of state’s office to address concerns about the state’s voting technology. Critics argue that Georgia’s current voting equipment, manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems, is not trustworthy, and a federal trial is examining the security of the system. Read Article

Illinois State Board of elections to decide Trump’s ballot eligibility | Patrick M. Keck/Springfield State Journal- Register

Illinois has become the latest state to face a formal objection to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, potentially leading to the removal of his name from the March primary ballot. Five objectors filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections, citing Trump’s alleged incitement of the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection as grounds for his ineligibility under the 14th Amendment. Read Article

Maine House votes down GOP effort to impeach top election official | David Sharp/Associated Press

The Maine House rejected a Republican attempt to impeach Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot over his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The resolution was voted down 80-60, with Republicans arguing that Bellows’ decision disenfranchised over 300,000 Trump voters in the state. Bellows, who invoked the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause, remains steadfast in her decision, stating that any disagreement should be resolved in the courts. Colorado is the only other state to bar Trump from the ballot, with the decision under appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read Article

No, Missouri’s Secretary of State cannot legally remove Joe Biden from the 2024 ballot’ | Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft lacks the unilateral authority to disqualify President Joe Biden from the ballot, as only a court can make such a decision based on a lawsuit filed by another presidential hopeful. Participants in a decade-old case established limits on the secretary of state’s authority to decide on candidate qualifications, emphasizing that this power is delegated to the courts to prevent partisan political interference. Ashcroft had previously threatened to disqualify Biden if decisions in Colorado and Maine, where Donald Trump was ruled ineligible over the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, were upheld. Read Article

Nevada Secretary of State tries to get ahead of caucus-caused confusion – without criticizing caucus | April Corbin Girnis/Nevada Current

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar on Wednesday offered little direct criticism of the Nevada Republican Party for rejecting the state-run presidential preference primary in favor of hosting their own party-run caucus. But he defended the state’s primary election system, calling it more accessible to voters than a caucus held over less than three hours on just one specific day. Read Article

Washington House backs tougher penalties for threatening election workers | Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard

Washington lawmakers renewed their push Thursday to increase criminal penalties for harassment of election workers. The state House of Representatives, on an 86-11 vote, approved House Bill 1241 to make it a class C felony for a person to threaten election officials with injury through words or conduct. Today, such behavior carries a lesser penalty of a gross misdemeanor. The same bill cleared the House on a 90-7 vote last session but lapsed in the Senate. It is expected to receive a hearing in the Senate in early February. Read Article

Wisconsin judge rules mobile voting sites not provided for in state law but backs other early voting sites | Jessie Opoien/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Racine County judge has ruled against the use of mobile absentee voting sites, delivering a partial victory to Republicans who contested the deployment of an absentee voting van in 2022. The van, funded by a grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, was accused of disproportionately targeting Democratic voting wards. The ruling does not express “an opinion regarding the efficacy of the use of mobile vans to further the popular use of in-person absentee balloting,” the judge noted. “This ruling stands for the proposition that such determinations are for the legislature to direct and cannot be a novel creation of executive branch officials.” Read Article