Scientists and election officials work hand in hand to ensure democratic elections are fair and accurate. Together, they audit voter rolls, conduct statistical analyses on election data using artificial intelligence (AI) and other computational tools, survey voters and poll workers, and evaluate the overall security and accuracy of elections.
This data and partnership can help answer questions about election integrity as they arise.
Increasingly, social and computer scientists are focused on the problem of election-related misinformation, disinformation, and harassment online. At Caltech, they are developing AI tools that can parse millions of social media posts to identify and prevent online harassment and track the spread of misinformation and disinformation on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
"Technology is used in election administration from start to finish," says Michael Alvarez, Caltech professor of political and computation social science. "So, scientists can help improve the entirety of the election administration process."
Learn more in the video below.
Read More Learn about other threats to election security and how they can be addressed on the Caltech Science Exchange.
