Abstract
Introduction
This year will see more than 100 national elections take place in countries ranging from Argentina and Canada to Singapore and Germany. They follow the so-called Super Election Year of 2024 – in which, with almost two billion voters heading to the polls, CETaS closely monitored various electoral campaigns around the world to understand how AI tools were contributing to the spread of false information and harmful content. These tools have rapidly evolved since then. So, what has changed about the threat they pose to election security?
This Expert Analysis explores new threat vectors that have emerged in elections throughout 2025 – building on the data collected in our three previous reports. Specifically, the article focuses on the ways that AI tools have been misused in recent elections for: illicit financial scams; attempts to manipulate results by reducing voter turnout; and the dissemination of even more sophisticated disinformation, which complicates debunking efforts. Additionally, the article highlights how such misuse is being exacerbated by the actions of some political parties, as well as by data-poisoning attacks on chatbots. Finally, it proposes a series of measures that could help protect elections in 2026 against AI-enabled information threats.