UnidosUS: Congress Should Move Quickly to Enact Three Needed Election Protection Bills

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Washington, DC – Today, three Artificial Intelligence (AI) election protection measures were voted out of the Senate Rules Committee, following leadership by Rule Chairwoman Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Juan Espinoza, Senior Civil Rights Advisor for UnidosUS, provided the following statement:

“The 2024 election has already seen the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) in deceiving voters and undermining our democratic processes. Deceptive deepfakes in the electoral context are now readily accessible and they pose a direct threat to informed civic participation, which is the heart of our democracy. Latino voters, who represent the second-largest voting bloc in the country, are increasingly both the subjects and targets of mis- and dis-information.

“AI-generated deepfakes can further exacerbate existing misinformation targeting Latinos: turbocharging Spanish-language misinformation, expanding deceptive ads about what candidates are saying or doing, simulating voices of candidates in Spanish and other languages, geotargeting materially deceptive AI-generated content by country-of-origin or region, and even creating false portrayals of election interference and voting. Without proper safeguards, AI used to distort reality may be further weaponized to effectively deter Latino voters and undermine faith in our democratic systems.

For these reasons, UnidosUS urgently calls on Congress to pass the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act, the AI Transparency in Elections Act, and the Preparing Election Administrators for AI Act. At a time where we are facing heightened risks for our democracy, Congress should act without delay to protect the integrity of our elections and enact this commonsense and bipartisan legislation.”