Protecting the Election: AI & Governance Conference

October 16-17, 2025 | The Charles F. Knight Center at Washington University in St. Louis

Conference Organizers | Betsy Sinclair, WashU and R. Michael Alvarez, Caltech

On October 16-17, 2025, a two-day in-person research and practitioner conference — Protecting the Election: AI & Governance — was held at The Charles F Knight Center at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri (WashU) to discuss research pertaining to AI and governance and how this applies to elections in the United States.

The event was organized and led by Political Science Chair and Thomas F. Eagleton Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at WashU, Betsy Sinclair, and Flintridge Foundation Professor of Political and Computational Social Science at Caltech, R. Michael Alvarez, Co-Director of the Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy (LCSSP) at Caltech. 

Researchers presented on topics including how chatbots can be used to engage with voters, how social media can influence voters, what the electorate knew — or did not know — about the candidates and other issues during recent elections, misinformation in elections, rhetoric about election integrity, and potential strategies and pitfalls for the administration of elections in a time where AI usage around the world is growing by the day.

In addition to academic researchers, we also heard from election officials and technology practitioners during panel sessions about their experiences with AI and their ideas for —and concerns about — the future use of AI as it relates to election administration.

Please see the conference agenda below which lists our speakers with links to their bios and affiliations and links to video recordings of their presentations. For more information on the event, please read the conference recap on the WashU Department of Political Science website, which includes event photos.

This conference was sponsored in part by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, the Frick Initiative, the Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy at Caltech, and the Caltech Election Integrity Project.

If you have questions about the conference, please visit the LCSSP Democracy & Elections section of the LCSSP website, or email us at lcssp@hss.caltech.edu.

AGENDA

DAY 1: October 16

Welcome & Introductions (video)

• Betsy Sinclair, Thomas F. Eagleton University Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science, Chair of the Department of Political Science, and Assistant Vice Provost of Digital Transformations at Washington University in St. Louis - Moderator

AI at the Polls: Promises vs. Perils (video)

• Commissioner Donald Palmer, U.S. Election Assistance Commission

• Betsy Sinclair and Michael Alvarez, Flintridge Foundation Professor of Political and Computational Social Science, Caltech & Co-Director, Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy at Caltech - Moderators

How AI is Changing Elections: Election Officials Panel (video)

• Amy Cohen, Executive Director, National Association of State Election Directors

• Matt Crane, Executive Director, Colorado County Clerks Association

• Brianna Lennon, Boone County Clerk, Missouri

• Ben Borgmeyer, Democratic Director of Elections, St. Louis City Board of Elections, Missouri

• Kurt Bahr, Director of Elections, St. Charles County, Missouri

• David Kimball, University of Missouri – St. Louis -  Moderator

How AI is Changing Elections: Election Technologists Panel (video)

• Samuel Derheimer, Director of Government Affairs, Hart InterCivic

• Edwin Smith, Vice President, Government Solutions, MTX Group

• Jared Marcotte, President, The Turnout

• McDermot Coutts, Chief Software Architect & Director of Software Development, Unisyn Voting Solutions

• Tonya Rice, Member of Democracy Works Board of Directors and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Advocacy and Engagement, Washington University in St. Louis

• Michael Alvarez - Moderator

AI, Campaigns, and the Media Panel (video)

• Jessica Huseman, Editorial Director, Votebeat

• Mindy Moretti, Writer/Editor, electionline

• Julie Sweet, Director of Advocacy & Industry Relations, American Association of Political Consultants

• Danielle Cendejas, Partner, The Strategy Group

• Michael Alvarez - Moderator

Research Presentations: AI & the Elections Media  (video)

• Julia Morse, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara - Chair and Q&A

• Jonathan Nagler, Professor of Politics, Co-director, NYU Center for Social Media and Politics, &  Director of the Politics Data Center, New York University

• Justin Ryan Grimmer, Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor of Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Keynote  (video)

• Kim Wyman, President, ESI Consulting and former Washington Secretary of State

• Michael Alvarez - Moderator

Research Presentations: AI & Election Administration (video)

• Lonna Atkeson, LeRoy Collins Eminent Scholar in Civic Education and Political Science & Director of the LeRoy Collins Institute, Florida State University - Chair and Q&A

• Mitchell Brown, Curtis O. Liles III Endowed Professor of Political Science, Auburn University and Board Member, National Association of Election Officials (The Election Center) & Hilary Rudy, Deputy Director, Elections Division, Colorado Department of State

• Seulki Lee-Geiller, Associate Research Scientist, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University

• Ted Enamorado, Associate Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis

• Yimeng Li, Postdoctoral Scholar, Florida State University

• Hause Lin, Postdoctoral Researcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University 

DAY 2: October 17

Research Presentations on Deepfakes & Misinformation  (video)

• Charles Stewart III, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology & Director, MIT Election Data and Science Lab - Chair

• Christopher Lucas, Associate Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis

• Kylan Rutherford, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Social Media and Politics, New York University

• Michael Tomz, William Bennett Munro Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University

• Mitchell Linegar, Graduate Student, Caltech

• Thessalia Merivaki, Associate Teaching Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy and Associate Research Professor, Massive Data Institute, Georgetown University - Q&A

What are the Legal Issues About Using AI in Elections? (video)

• Ryan Durrie, Lecturer in Law, Co-Director of the WashU Law AI Collaborative and Associate Director of Policy for the Cordell Institute - Chair

• Christian Grose, Professor of Political Science & Public Policy at the University of Southern California and Academic Director, Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy at USC

• Barney Chen, PhD Candidate, University of California, Los Angeles

• Adam Kuckuk, Policy Associate, Elections & Redistricting, National Conference of State Legislatures

• Stefanie Linquist, Nickerson Dean, Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis Law School

• Jacob Montgomery, Professor of Political Science, Chair of the Political Science Concentration for Division of Computational and Data Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis - Q&A

Keynote  (video)

• Karen Hao, New York Times Bestselling Author of Empire of AI

• Betsy Sinclair - Moderator

Practicum:  AI Tools For Elections  (video)

• Matthew Masterson, Senior Director, Elections and Societal Resilience, Tech for Society Team, Microsoft

• William Gates, Director, Arizona State University Mechanics of Democracy Laboratory and Professor of Practice, ASU Watts College of Public Service of Community Solutions

• Noah Praetz, President & Co-Founder, The Elections Group

• Stephen Richer, Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School

• Dan Maranan, Executive Director, Digital Intelligence & Innovation Accelerator, Washington University in St. Louis

• Betsy Sinclair - Moderator

Conference Wrap Up (video)

• Betsy Sinclair