A conversation with New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan

By Rhianwen Watkins-Granite State News Collaborative

David Scanlan has served as New Hampshire secretary of state since January 2022. In that job he oversees all aspects of state elections. He served as deputy secretary of state for 20 years before assuming his latest role.

Q: What is your role as secretary of state in preventing voter suppression and mitigating misinformation when it does come about?

David Scanlan: The secretary of state is the chief election official in the state, and that responsibility includes making sure that all of our local election officials have access to training and resources that they need to conduct an election. We prepare the ballots and distribute them to all the polling places. And then, after the election occurs, we collect the results through the return of votes, and then we certify the numbers and the various races on the ballot. And then, we conduct any recounts that are necessary, and just follow the election process all the way to its conclusion. So part of that is making sure that we have accurate information out there, and when we become aware of misinformation, we try and help not only election officials, but also voters, understand that some of the things that they may be hearing might not be accurate.

 Q: When you see misinformation pop up, how do you go about informing people of that?

David Scanlan: Misinformation, which is incorrect information, becomes disinformation if the spread of misinformation is intentional. It has been around for as long as we've conducted elections. You see it in campaigns and on campaign ads where the truth is stretched quite a bit, and claims may be made about other candidates, or even claims about the candidates themselves trying to beef up the credentials that they might have.

So the way that that has been dealt with in the past is, if you have questions about what's being said about a candidate or a campaign, contact the candidate or the campaign to get the true story. The same is true with the election process. If voters hear statements or information being circulated that is confusing things about the elections, we strongly recommend that voters approach their local election officials as the trusted source of accurate election-related information. I think that's true about anything in life – if you question whether something you hear is true or not, or accurate or not, find a reliable source so that you can educate yourself on what the truth is and what's accurate so that you can be as well informed as possible. And that holds true with the election process as well.

Q:I know earlier this year there was the situation with a robocall in New Hampshire mimicking President Biden's voice. If you get a complaint about some sort of misinformation, what happens next? What's the next step in the process that you have to take on?

David Scanlan: It depends on the type of the complaint, but using the Biden robocall as an example, that occurred literally a day before the presidential primary election. And when I woke up in the morning, I started getting reports right away that this was out there. We had no idea, first of all, what the nature of the call was, because I had not heard it yet. We did not know how widely distributed it was, and we did not know who was conveying the call. 

So the attorney general's office jumped out very quickly. The attorney general is the enforcement arm of the election laws, and they came out early and very clearly stated that that robocall with Biden's voice telling voters not to participate in the democratic presidential primary because their vote was more important in the general election was a form of voter suppression, and it was illegal and totally inappropriate. And then we were able to amplify that message through our media outreach and statements for the press. It was actually fortunate for New Hampshire that we had all of the national media here covering the presidential primary, and they were hungry for news like that, and so it was able to get our messaging out very quickly and to a very wide audience. 

In the end, what we know is that the percentage of voters that turned out at the polls in both the Republican and Democratic primary was very, very high. So, if there was an impact generated by that robocall, it did not impact the outcome of those races, and I don't know that there were many New Hampshire voters that were fooled by that messaging. And that's a tribute to the voters here.

Q: Have you had any complaints about AI-generated phone calls or images since the Biden robocall? Have you had any other complaints sort of similar to that?

David Scanlan: No, we have not had any since.

Q: Thus far, it has been somewhat easy to decipher an AI-generated image, as people in the photo might look a little too perfect or a hand might have six fingers instead of five, but as AI is quickly evolving and becoming more realistic, how can we continue to decipher AI from real photos, videos or political calls?

David Scanlan: People imitate political figures. And Saturday Night Live is a perfect example of actors getting on and looking similar to and sounding like politicians that are active today. You know, clearly that's comedy and satire, and there's always been a place for that. What is new with technology advancing the way that it has, is that it is very easy now for really anybody to access an app on your cell phone and very quickly generate images or voices of individuals in our society and making it appear as if those individuals are doing things or saying things that simply did not happen. That's the struggle with that technology today, and the way it's advancing, those fakes can only become more and more real.

It just goes back to the fact that the general public and the voters really have an obligation to educate and inform themselves on issues and things that are important to them so that if they hear something that just doesn't sound right, that they have the desire and the wherewithal to just check it out and find out firsthand what the reality is. And as I mentioned, when it comes to the election process, voters can talk to their local election officials or secretary of state's office or the attorney general's office, and those individuals are trusted sources of election-related information for questions about candidates and whether they actually did what they think they saw. You ask the candidate about it and find out whether that's the truth or not. And you know, it's not just an elections-related thing. It's an everyday life lesson that people should be willing to use judgment and make decisions based on their knowledge about whether something seems real or not.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about HB 1596 which, and correct me if I am wrong, would require a disclosure on any AI-generated media saying that it is in fact, AI. Can you tell me where this bill is at in the Legislature, if it’s still up for decision and what it would do if passed, in a bit more detail?

David Scanlan: That bill did pass [effective as of 8/1/24]. What that bill was designed to do is just help the voters understand that they may be looking at an artificially created deep fake image, by a disclosure on the deep fake that artificial intelligence was used to generate that media. The bill is meant to disclose that information to the public so that people watching it may make their own decisions about how truthful it is. It's a good first step, and I know that Congress is having some debates over national efforts to get the deep fake issues under control without impinging upon free speech, and that carries down to the state level as well. So, I don't think that House Bill 1596 is the solution, but it's a good start.

Q: Are there any other forms of voter suppression that you've seen during your time as secretary of state? Maybe other methods besides AI-generated images, videos and phone calls, things like that?

David Scanlan: I have seen examples of what AI can do. For example, I was at a meeting with the Secretary of State from Arizona who showed some videos of him speaking about elections and related issues in four or five different foreign languages. And the interesting thing was, he claimed that he did not speak all the languages that were presented with him in his own voice. So that shows you the power of artificial intelligence and deep fakes and how believable it can be.

Now, it could also be a useful tool. Being able to express yourself in a foreign language can reach a certain group of voters that you might otherwise have difficulty communicating with. And we know that artificial intelligence can really help the process of research. It has all kinds of useful applications, so it's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be used in bad ways.

Q: What’s a piece of advice that you would maybe give to young voters in regard to staying educated about misinformation and making sure they're getting all of their info from reliable sources, especially since most young people are getting their news, especially about the elections, from social media, which is kind of a toss-up of whether it's going to be accurate or not?

David Scanlan: Those voters that are turning 18 have grown up in the technological age. It really is what they know, and they're used to it. And I think they have their own expectations. Information is available instantly, and it's going to be that their generation really has to figure  out what steps need to be taken in their mind to make sure that the information being spread is accurate. How can you wade through all that information and be able to make sound decisions on which should be reality, as opposed to a lot of fluff and misinformation that is also circulating out there.

I know that the younger citizens are very adept at the use of technology – far more so than I am, that's for sure. And I have confidence, just like every generation has its own set of issues that it needs to reconcile, that the young generation is going to be able to find a way to deal with these major advances in technology.

Q: Finally, is there anything else that you'd like to add before we wrap up the interview?

David Scanlan: I just strongly encourage [young people and first-time voters] to register to vote, if they have not already done that, and then participate in the election on Nov. 5, because that is your way of exercising your political voice, and that voice is incredibly important. It is equal to everyone else's vote in this process, so it's important that they participate. And the great thing is, once you start voting, you stick with it. That's the great thing about voting – it’s contagious, and once you get in the habit of doing it, you'll do it for the rest of your life.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative and the Know Your Vote youth voter guide. The Know Your Vote youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. You can see the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote