Caltech Election Integrity Project
Protecting the Election: AI & Governance Conference
October 16-17, 2025
Charles F. Knight Center | WashU, St. Louis, MO
Conference organizers: Betsy Sinclair (WUSTL) and R. Michael Alvarez (Caltech)
Join us for this two-day in-person research and practitioner conference at WashU on October 16-17, 2025, to discuss research regarding AI and governance and how this applies to U.S. elections. Research topics include how chatbots can be used to engage with voters, how social media influences voters, what the electorate knew (or did not know) about the candidates and issues during recent elections, misinformation in elections, rhetoric about election integrity, and AI strategies for the administration of elections. We will also hear from practitioners during the conferences about their experiences with and needs for AI in recent elections and their intentions for future use of AI in elections.
Call for Papers, Posters & Panels:
We are currently accepting participation proposals for the Protecting the Election: AI & Governance Conference. Paper, poster, or panel proposals of no more than 250 words that pertain to the conference description above should be submitted by August 15, 2025 to lcssp@hss.caltech.edu (in addition to letting us know at the interest form link below that you plan to submit). We expect to announce decisions no later than September 1, 2025.
For more information, please visit the WashU conference webpage.
If you have questions about the conference, please email Betsy Sinclair or Caltech's Linde Center for Science, Society and Policy.
This conference is intended for academic researchers, election practitioners, students, postdocs, and community stakeholders interested and involved in election administration. This event is also open to members from the WashU community and those from other college and university communities.
Caltech Election Integrity Project
Information and Misinformation in Elections: 2025 Conference
Virtual Conference!
January 16-17, 2025
Conference organizers: R. Michael Alvarez (Caltech) and Betsy Sinclair (WUSTL)
Join us for this two-day online research and practitioner conference at the Caltech on January 16-17, 2025, to discuss research regarding information and misinformation in the 2024 U.S. elections and other elections. Research topics include how campaigns used innovative new approaches to target and persuade voters, how social media influenced voters, what the electorate knew (or did not know) about the candidates and issues, misinformation in the election, election rumors and denialism, rhetoric about election integrity, disinformation dissemination and impact on the election, and conspiracy theories regarding the candidates and the administration of the election. We will also hear from practitioners during the conferences about their experiences with misinformation in recent elections.
If you have questions about the conference, please email us at lcssp@hss.caltech.edu.
This conference is intended for academic researchers, election practitioners, students, postdocs, and community stakeholders interested and involved in election administration. This event is also open to members from the Caltech community and those from other college and university communities.
This conference is supported by a grant to Caltech from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, as well as support from the Caltech Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy.
To follow the conference on social media, use the hashtag #CaltechElectionIntegrityConf2025.
Please note: All times are Pacific!
Preliminary conference agenda:
January 16
Morning Session: Information and how it mattered in the 2024 election
8:45am - 9:00am. Conference Welcome & Intro: Frederick Eberhardt (Caltech)
9:00am - 10:00am. How the Economy Shaped the 2024 Election. Lynn Vavreck (UCLA). Moderated by Betsy Sinclair. (slides)
10:00am - 10:15am. Break
10:15am - 11:15am. Election official and stakeholder lightening talks: Information and misinformation problems and solutions from the field. Each panelist will have five minutes to discuss an election information or misinformation problem that they encountered in the 2024 election cycle (and how they mitigated or resolved it). Moderated by Michael Alvarez.
Natalie Adona (Clerk-Recorder, Nevada County)
Kim Alexander (President & Founder, California Voter Foundation)
Tina Barton (Senior Election Expert, The Elections Group)
Tommy Gong (Deputy County Clerk-Recorder, Contra Costa County)
Dean Logan (Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles County)
Ed Smith (Vice President, Election Solutions, MTX Group)
11:15am - 12:00pm. Poster Session Presentation 1: Five minute research presentations from poster session participants. Moderated by Michael Alvarez.
Herbert Chang (Dartmouth), “Visual Platforms and Generative AI: Effects on Political Discourse and Policy Preference in the 2024 U.S. Elections.”
Ross Dahlke (Stanford), “The Public Sphere in Private Spaces: Exposure to Politics and Misinformation in Personal Messaging Applications During the 2024 Presidential Election.”
Jacob Devasier (UT Arlington), “Fighting Misinformation in the 2024 Elections: A Case Study on Voting Claims Using ClaimsLens.”
Corrie Emerson (Verified Voting), “Bridging the Knowledge Gap: How Effective Communication about Election Audits Can Strengthen Voter Confidence.”
Afternoon Session: Information and voter views of election integrity
1:15pm - 2:15pm. Trust and Integrity in the 2024 Election: The View from the Voters. Charles Stewart III (MIT). Moderated by Betsy Sinclair. (slides)
2:15pm - 2:30pm. Break
2:30pm - 3:15pm. Perspectives from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Moderated by Michael Alvarez.
3:15pm - 3:30pm. Break
3:30pm - 5:15pm. Research presentations. Moderated by Betsy Sinclair.
3:30pm - 3:45pm, Talk 1. Emily Beaulieu Bacchus (University of Kentucky), “Institutional Heterogeneity, Information, and Voting Behavior.”
3:45pm - 4:00pm. Talk 2. Christina Farhart (Carleton College), “Partisan Colored Glasses and Tinfoil Hats: Electoral (Il)Legitimacy in the 2020 and 2024 U.S. Presidential Elections.”
4:00pm - 4:15pm. Talk 3. Lisa Bryant (CSU-Fresno), “Election Skepticism and Election Administration: How Misinformation Leads to Administrative Change.”
4:15pm - 4:30pm. Talk 4. Ruth Elisabeth Appel (Stanford), “How Deceptive Online Networks Reached Millions in the U.S. 2020 Elections.”
4:30pm-4:45pm. Talk 5. Thad Kousser (UCSD), “Field Experimental Evidence of the Impact of a Public Information Campaign on Truth in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.”
4:45pm - 5:15pm. Q&A.
January 17
Morning Session: Misinformation, conspiratorial thinking, and disinformation in the 2024 election
7:45am - 8:30am. Poster Session Presentation 2: Five minute research presentations from poster session participants. Moderated by Betsy Sinclair.
Aarushi Kalra (Brown), “Hate in the Time of Algorithms: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment on Online Behavior.”
Yuehong Cassandra Tai (Penn State), “Elected Officials' Online Sharing of Misinformation: Institutional and Ideological Checks.”
Sejin Paik (Georgetown), “How Human? Analyzing the Perceived Humanness of AI-Generated Social Media Content Around the U.S. 2024 Presidential Election.”
Joseph Sherlock (LSE), “Election Doctors: Who are Effective and Trustworthy Messengers for Election-Related Communications?”
Stuart Soroka (UCLA) and Christopher Wlezien (UT Austin), “It’s the Mediated Economy (?), Stupid.”
8:30am - 8:45am. Break
8:45am - 9:45am. The Microtargeting Manipulation Machine. Stephan Lewandowsky (University of Bristol). Moderated by Michael Alvarez. (slides)
9:45am - 10:00am. Break
10:00am - 12:00pm. Research presentations. Moderated by Betsy Sinclair.
10:00am - 10:20am. Talk 6. Joanne Miller (University of Delaware), “Motivated Misperceptions and Public Opinion about Abortion.”
10:20am - 10:40am. Talk 7. Emilio Ferrara (USC), “AI & Social Manipulation.”
10:40am - 11:00am. Talk 8. Mitchell Linegar (Caltech), “Prebunking Election Rumors: Artificial Intelligence Assisted Interventions Increase Confidence in American Elections.”
11:00am - 11:20am. Talk 9. Mathieu Lavigne (Dartmouth), “Correction Mismatch? How Inattention and Selective Exposure Limit the Effects of Election Fraud Debunking.”
11:20am - 12:00pm. Q&A.
Afternoon Session: Improving the quality of political discourse
1:00pm - 2:00pm. Research presentations. Moderated by Michael Alvarez.
1:00pm - 1:20pm. Talk 10. David Lazer (Northeastern), “The National Internet Observatory.”
1:20pm - 1:40pm. Talk 11. Jonathan Nagler (NYU), “Evolution of Preferences and Media Consumption.”
1:40pm - 2:00pm. Talk 12. Mindy Romero (USC), “Counter-Framing and Persistence of Election Messaging and Trust in American Elections.”
2:00pm - 2:45pm. Poster Session Presentation 3: Five minute research presentations from poster session participants. Moderated by Michael Alvarez.
Jennifer Merolla (UC Riverside), “Does Information about Post-Election Audits Increase the Public’s Trust in Elections?”
Danielle Lee Tomson (University of Washington), “Evidence Generation Infrastructure for Election Rumors, Left and Right.”
Dario Trujano-Ochoa (UCSB), “The Effect of Feedback on News-Verification Demand: Experimental Evidence.”
Zeyu Zhang (UT Arlington), “Toward Automated Fact-Checking: Detecting Check-Worthy Factual Claims.”
Zhengyuan Zhu (UT Arlington), “A Truthfulness Stance Map for 2024 Election-Related Factual Claims.”
2:45pm. Conference Wrap Up and Discussion about the 2026 Conference! Michael Alvarez and Betsy Sinclair.
Conference FAQ
For the lightning talks, what is the order of the presentations? All presentations will go in the order presented in the conference program (alphabetical by author).
Given the Eaton Fire, is the conference still on? We know that you are aware of the wildfires in Southern California. The Eaton Fire, in particular, has had widespread and serious effects on Pasadena, Caltech, Caltech's students, faculty, and staff, and our local infrastructure. We are holding the conference next week, but out of an abundance of caution regarding given the situation in Southern California, we are converting it to an entirely virtual event. Use the registration link above to get your link to the online conference!
