States United Research Identifies AI Platform Shortcomings, Encourages Voters to Rely on State Websites for Election Information
Research Finds AI Connects Voters With Authoritative Election Information Less Than 50% of the Time, Provides Incomplete Answers
WASHINGTON — The States United Democracy Center today released a new report, “AI and Elections: How Well Do AI Platforms Answer Voter Questions?”, which finds that leading AI platforms and chatbots face persistent shortcomings that risk leaving Americans without the information they need to vote. Empirical testing of ChatGPT and Google AI shows that these popular platforms fail to provide complete and consistent answers to common voter questions. Despite improvements, the AI platforms directed voters to their state’s official election websites—the best source for voting information—less than 50 percent of the time.
“States run elections in this country, and your state’s official election website remains the best source for getting answers to questions about voting in this year’s midterms,” said Thania Sanchez, Senior Vice President of Research at the States United Democracy Center. “Democracy depends on informed voters participating in the process. As Americans increasingly turn to AI in their day-to-day lives, our research finds that doing so for election information poses significant risks. When it comes to the right to vote, Americans deserve reliable information straight from the people who run elections.”
The study examines nearly 1,000 AI-generated responses in the fall of 2025 and winter of 2026 focused on election information for several key states (AZ, MI, NC, NV, PA, WI). It includes recommendations for voters, election officials, and AI platform operators to consider in light of the findings.
Key takeaways:
- AI platforms rely on non-authoritative sources and do not consistently direct voters to official state websites. Voters were guided to their state’s election website less than 50 percent of the time. ChatGPT mentioned the state website in just 39.4 percent of responses, while Google AI did so in 55.6 percent of responses. On top of this, Wikipedia accounted for more than 12 percent of all cited links in 2026 and was the dominant source for candidate-related questions.
- Questions about candidates frequently produce incomplete answers. Due to AI platforms’ reliance on historical training and snapshots of data, they typically failed to identify all candidates in any given race. ChatGPT returned incomplete candidate lists for nearly 90 percent of gubernatorial race queries.
- AI platforms became more accurate over time. Between fall 2025 and winter 2026, verifiable factual error rates dropped from 6.9% to 0% for Google AI and from 8.2% to 0% for ChatGPT. While technically accurate responses are a key improvement in the AI landscape, the gaps in information—such as the failure to direct voters to official sources—remain a concern.
“Our research underscores that factual accuracy isn’t the only measure that matters when evaluating AI platforms,” said Michael Pomante, Senior Researcher at the States United Democracy Center. “While AI is continuously improving, these platforms oftentimes rely on crowdsourced websites rather than authoritative sources and provide incomplete responses. For voters, these gaps in election information can make a difference in whether or not they feel adequately prepared to cast their ballot.”
Read the full report. States United’s public opinion research is available here.
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About the States United Democracy Center
States United is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the rule of law and free, fair, secure elections. We provide direct support to state officials and law enforcement leaders as they uphold the law and our system of checks and balances, protect public safety, defend elections, and preserve our democracy. For more information, visit statesunited.org.