Media Party New York

While traditional tools like dedicated election website pages, data visualization tools, and fact-checking remain standard, I didn't notice any groundbreaking new technologies being employed by the media. This doesn't necessarily mean innovations weren't present; they just didn't catch my attention. However, I found some non-media tech usage quite interesting: Many social media users turned to generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and the Meta bot for advice on voting. People used these tools to ask questions like "Who should I vote for?" and shared the responses. Others requested summaries of election manifestos or comparisons between different party platforms. This highlights the importance of ensuring AI training data is current and accurate, a role where I believe media could be pivotal. The electoral commission attempted to use voter management devices to prevent double voting, a practice first introduced in the 2021 local elections. Unfortunately, this did not go smoothly—the devices malfunctioned, and many election officials seemed inadequately trained, which led to unprecedented questioning of the election results. Also noteworthy was the continued use of bulk SMS technology by political parties and the electoral commission, as in previous years.