A Public Service of Santa Fe Community College
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Detecting Election Fakes and Misinformation

FILE - A woman marks her ballot at a polling center in the South Valley area of Albuquerque, N.M., Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)
Andres Leighton/AP
/
FR171260 AP
FILE - A woman marks her ballot at a polling center in the South Valley area of Albuquerque, N.M., Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

While some parts of the country have been victimized by election scams this year, New Mexico has largely escaped those trends.

Secretary of State spokesperson Alex Curtas says the state hasn’t seen any instances of AI-generated misinformation yet, but is still cautioning voters to be vigilant about evaluating election-related material they digest.

In an interview with KSFR, Curtas provided some suggestions on how to detect phony AI-generated posts in various media.

“The tone of people's voices is very monotonous and doesn't have a lot of inflection or rhythm. Oftentimes the AI tools can't quite capture every word. So often, there will be a lot of slurred words in between that the AI tools just can't quite create," Curtas said.

"Shen you're talking about photos or videos, there's other things to look for, like too-perfect skin tones, weird shadows, kind of weird gestures and facial expressions and that kind of thing.”

The Secretary of State’s office has a "Rumor vs. Reality" page on its website to provide more guidance on other occurrences of misinformation.

Curtas said that a lot of voters don’t realize that their ballot choices are completely secret, even to election officials.

Another issue that New Mexico has tackled in recent years is in response to accusations around the country of computer hackers getting at voting machines that are connected to online networks.

Curtas addressed the rumor that such malpractice can happen here.

 "Voting machines in New Mexico are prohibited by law and by process from ever being connected to the internet," Curtas said.

"Lower and lower tech is the idea. So in New Mexico, for example, we vote on a hundred percent paper ballots. So everyone that votes in New Mexico votes on a paper ballot. And that is a low-tech solution to these high-tech problems. You can't hack a paper ballot.”

Early and absentee voting began in various locations around the state about two weeks ago.

According to the latest figures from the Secretary of State’s office, nearly 80,000 registered Democratic voters have filed in-person or mail-in ballots, while about 55,000 registered Republicans have gone that route. 

Nearly 20,000 voters who declined to select a party have participated thus far in early or absentee voting.

Rob Hochschild first reported news for WCIB (Falmouth, MA) and WKVA (Lewistown, PA). He later worked for three public radio stations in Boston before joining KSFR as news reporter.