An artificial intelligence company monitoring election and voting misinformation flagged two factually accurate stories regarding noncitizen voting published by the Center Square.
Logically, the U.K. company hired by the Washington secretary of state’s office, was part of an AI program to track election and voter misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation on social media causing “harmful narratives.” Last year, Logically generated a report that flagged two Center Square stories containing government documents and emails obtained through public records requests, according to the outlet.
- Emails: Washington state registered ‘many’ foreign nationals to vote
- Foreign national avoids prosecution after illegally voting in Washington 28 times
In the program’s first report, it claimed that the outlet’s first story created a narrative that the state did not have the power to verify voter citizenship and that by doing so, authorities would be allowing voter fraud. The story could motivate people to want stricter voting laws, according to the report.
The program’s second report claimed that the outlet’s story about foreign nationals illegally voting multiple times in the state could “increase claims of voter fraud and motivate individuals to call on election officials to implement citizenship verification procedures for voter registration in Washington State,” the Center Square reported.
Deputy Director of External Affairs Derrick Nunnally said that Logically’s AI reports provided to Washington’s secretary of state’s office are not used to censor or categorize social media users. In regard to which state agency verifies the citizenship status of voters, Nunnally reinforced that the citizenship of registered voters was verified before individuals could participate in the voting process.
“Voters are required to affirm eligibility when they register (on paper, in person, or online) and with their signature each time they cast a ballot,” Nunnally wrote in a statement. “Non-citizens who attempt to participate in elections can be subject to prosecution, deportation, and/or potential loss of a path to citizenship.”
Aaron Terr, director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said that while the organization is concerned about the government’s involvement with censorship, the tracking of social media doesn’t violate the First Amendment.
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“Government monitoring of publicly accessible social media posts for alleged misinformation doesn’t in itself violate the First Amendment, even if it gives off a creepy authoritarian vibe,” Terr wrote in a statement. “But First Amendment issues could arise depending on what the government does with that information. We’ve seen, for example, how White House officials have unlawfully coerced social media platforms to remove or downgrade content related to controversial topics like COVID-19 and election fraud.”
Washington isn’t the only state to implement AI technology to detect voter and election misinformation. The Oregon secretary of state’s office hired Logically in 2022, which flagged “high-risk potential MDM narratives” during the midterm elections, including social media users who called for the elimination of mail-in ballots and implementation of voter ID. The program resulted in Republican lawmakers filing a lawsuit against the secretary of state, arguing that the system violated free speech.