{"id":24874,"date":"2026-06-11T15:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=24874"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:06:11","slug":"merkley-padilla-lead-effort-to-fight-back-against-voter-suppression-and-misuse-of-artificial-intelligence-in-u-s-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-padilla-lead-effort-to-fight-back-against-voter-suppression-and-misuse-of-artificial-intelligence-in-u-s-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley, Padilla Lead Effort to Fight Back Against Voter Suppression and Misuse of Artificial Intelligence in U.S. Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2013 Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and California\u2019s U.S. Senator Alex Padilla reintroduced legislation to protect voters in the face of the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and recent attacks on voting by the Trump Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Fraudulent Artificial Intelligence Regulations (FAIR) Elections Act<\/em> bans false election-related AI-generated content intended to suppress voters and target election workers. Merkley and Padilla\u2019s updated bill also prohibits the federal government from deploying tools that could be used for voter suppression and allows voters to fight back against wrongful removals from voter rolls if they are erroneously removed due to the federal government\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe ballot box is the beating heart of democracy<\/strong>, and we must use every tool at our disposal to protect it,\u201d <\/strong>dijo Merkley. \u201cIn the face of bad actors abusing AI to spread disinformation about voting to further dangerous voter suppression efforts, the FAIR Elections Act <\/em>will help take on this 21st-century threat and stand up to the Trump Administration\u2019s anti-democratic efforts to target eligible voters they don\u2019t like. I\u2019m fighting to protect the right of every eligible voter to make their voice heard.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe strength of our democracy relies on our elections being safe, secure, and accessible. As the use of AI spreads rapidly, we must ensure there are guardrails in place to prevent it from becoming a tool to suppress votes, spread disinformation, or purge eligible voters from the rolls,\u201d<\/strong> dijo Padilla. "El FAIR Elections Act<\/em> is an important step to help us protect our elections and ensure voters aren\u2019t targeted by bad actors using AI to interfere with the right to vote.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The threats AI pose to our elections are no longer theoretical: bad actors use AI and other new digital tools to file mass voter challenges<\/a> using questionably scraped public data, which disrupts election administration and threatens to disenfranchise thousands of voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, at the request of the Trump Administration at least 25 states have<\/a> turned over their data rolls for the federal government to determine a voter\u2019s eligibility using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This database is notably riddled with errors<\/a>, and isn\u2019t intended to determine voter eligibility, which has resulted and will continue to result in eligible American voters having their voter registration status challenged, with many states deploying tactics to make it difficult for voters to stay on the rolls and have their vote counted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El FAIR Elections Act<\/em> would respond to these threats by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n