A bipartisan coalition of House members is escalating pressure on federal agencies to confront the growing risks artificial intelligence poses to the upcoming midterm elections, with a particular focus on how chatbots respond to voters seeking election information.
Representatives Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) sent a letter Tuesday to the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The lawmakers urged these agencies to “work together” to ensure AI models deliver consistent and accurate answers when voters ask election-related questions.
“As millions of Americans rely on AI-driven tools to research the upcoming election, the accuracy and neutrality of these tools are now directly tied to the integrity of our democratic process,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, obtained by The Hill.
The push comes amid growing bipartisan concern over election security, similar to recent calls for transparency in other areas of government, such as Senator McConnell’s extended hospital stay sparking bipartisan calls for transparency. The lawmakers cited a 2024 study from the Institute for Advanced Study that tested AI chatbots with common voter questions. The study found that more than one-third of the responses were marked as harmful or incomplete, and all tested models “performed poorly” on election information.
While the study evaluated models last updated at the end of 2023, and AI technology has evolved significantly since then, Gottheimer and Lawler noted that earlier this year they reached out to major AI companies. Those firms pointed to “progress” made but also acknowledged the “limits of voluntary safeguards in addressing political bias and misinformation.”
The letter also highlighted a report claiming that roughly 40% of AI training data comes from Reddit, followed by Wikipedia and YouTube. “These sources present an environment filled with unverified information, where anyone with an opinion can shape the narrative,” the lawmakers stated. “By relying on this information, systems cannot reasonably present a full picture of unbiased information to voters.”
With the midterm elections just a few months away, the letter urges the agencies to “coordinate to ensure the U.S. is prepared for AI-driven threats to election integrity, including the development and deployment of appropriate monitoring and mitigation capabilities.” This bipartisan effort mirrors other recent cross-party initiatives, such as the bipartisan group pushing HHS to monitor hospice-assisted suicide for discrimination.
The letter was sent days after The New York Times reported that voters are increasingly turning to AI as a “viable alternative to traditional news coverage” when casting their ballots. The Hill reached out to CISA, DHS, and DOJ for comment; the FEC declined to comment.
