Steve Hobbs
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is urging voters to be wary of dubious election information, including deepfakes and other misinformation.
Hobbs said faked material is likely to become pervasive in some corners of social media, citing a July 26 posting on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, by platform owner Elon Musk that shared a manipulated recording of presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
On Monday, Secretary Hobbs joined Secretaries of State from Minnesota, Michigan, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania to send a public letter to Musk calling for X’s AI search assistant, “Grok,” to direct voters seeking elections information to CanIVote.org, as the administrators of ChatGPT and OpenAI already do. Shortly after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from a reelection campaign on July 21, Grok generated false information about ballot deadlines in Washington and eight other states that was shared on multiple social media platforms.
“As we move through Washington’s August 6 Primary and toward the November 5 General Election, I am concerned that a deluge of manipulated and false information may be inserted into social media from foreign actors and other sources,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs urged voters to seek out trusted information sources — such as established news outlets and official government institutions.
“My staff and I have monitored trends across the globe, and the spread of deepfakes into state and local races is happening now in America,” Hobbs said.
“These bad actors can and will sow distrust with our local elections,” Hobbs continued. “If something you see raises questions about your access to a fair and trustworthy election here in Washington, please visit a legitimate elections office and learn the truth.”
The Office of the Secretary of State’s elections website is at https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections and it includes important election deadlines, printable PDF registration forms, and more.