-
Election Security: When to Worry, When to Not
Everyone wants an election that is secure and reliable and that will ensure that the voters’ actual choices are reflected in the results. At the same time, not every problem in voting technology or systems is worth pulling the fire alarm —we have to look at the bigger story and context. And we have to stand down when our worst fears turn out to be unfounded.
-
-
Election Skeptics Are Running Some County Election Boards in Georgia. A New Rule Could Allow Them to Exclude Decisive Votes.
An examination of a new election rule in Georgia suggests that local officials in just a handful of rural counties could exclude enough votes to affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential race.
-
-
Crime Is Down, FBI Says, but Politicians Still Choose Statistics to Fit Their Narratives
Violent crime and property crime in the United States dropped in 2023, continuing a downward trend following higher rates of crime during the pandemic. Murder in the United States fell nearly 12% in 2023 compared with 2022.
-
-
In 2019, Congress Finally Funded Gun Violence Research. Here’s How It’s Changed the Field
A Trace analysis of federal data found that the amount of money going to gun violence studies has soared since lawmakers lifted a de facto federal funding ban.
-
-
Research Sheds Light on Impact and Bias of Voter Purging in Michigan
In recent years, some states have prioritized purging their voter rolls of those who have passed away or moved out of state. Voter purging can be an important step for creating election integrity, but others have raised concerns about how the process is conducted and who it targets.
-
-
Some Online Conspiracy-Spreaders Don’t Even Believe the Lies They’re Spewing
There has been a lot of research on the types of people who believe conspiracy theories, and their reasons for doing so. But there’s a wrinkle: My colleagues and I have found that there are a number of people sharing conspiracies online who don’t believe their own content.
-
-
Weak "Guardrails" on Police Face Recognition Use Make Things Worse
Police use of face recognition technology (FRT) poses a particularly massive risk to our civil liberties, particularly for Black men and women and other marginalized communities.
-
-
Changing Demographics and the Political Calculus of Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric in Swing States
Immigration is a far more complex topic than border security alone, and strategists may be miscalculating by failing to consider some key voters and their nuanced perspectives, recent polling shows. Growing populations of new and first-generation citizens in the swing states — with the power to sway elections — are transforming demographics and voter concerns.
-
-
Voting by Mail? Election Workers Are Worried About Issues at the Postal Service.
State election officials are encouraging people who vote by mail to be proactive about making sure their ballots are counted.
-
-
In the Tightest States, New Voting Laws Could Tip the Outcome in November
This year’s presidential election will likely be decided by voters in the seven tightly contested states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. How legislatures, courts and election boards have reshaped ballot access in those states in the past four years could make a difference: Pandemic protections offer more ballot options. Election lies are driving new restrictions.
-
-
Trump’s 2020 Stolen Election Claims Are Wrong on the Merits
Donald Trump is back to saying the 2020 election was stolen from him, and his followers regularly echo these claims. It’s therefore helpful to keep on hand one or two of the exhaustively detailed state-by-state accounts by election lawyers and scholars of why this isn’t so.
-
-
Battleground State Election Officials Lay Out Plans, Concerns Heading Toward Election Day
Bipartisan election officials from multiple battleground states met in Michigan and discussed their Election Day concerns and plans to make sure the day runs safely and smoothly.
-
-
California Laws Target Deepfake Political Ads, Disinformation
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed three pieces of legislation restricting the role that artificial intelligence, specifically deepfake audio and video recordings, can play in election campaigns.
-
-
AI Safety Research, Testing and Evaluation with Anthropic and OpenAI
First-of-their-kind agreements between the U.S. government and industry will help advance safe and trustworthy AI innovation for all.
-
-
Safe Storage and Minimum Age Gun Laws Would Curb Violence, Study Says
A new report found that minimum age requirements for purchasing firearms appear to reduce suicides among young people. Additionally, it indicated that laws aimed at reducing children’s access to stored guns may also lower rates of firearm suicides, unintentional shootings and firearm homicides among youth. Layering a variety of firearm policies might work best to prevent deaths, researchers say.
-
The long view
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”