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DIGITAL MAGAZINE

September 2024

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

September 2024

September 2024

Parthenon undergoing renovations

Introduction: Securing elections, democracy, and the information ecosystem in a critical political year

By John Mecklin, Dan Drollette Jr

This election will take place in a landscape full of threats to many of the world’s democracies. This issue of the Bulletin strives to help citizens and their public officials reduce those threats and preserve representative governance.
Parthenon undergoing renovations

Introduction: Securing elections, democracy, and the information ecosystem in a critical political year

By John Mecklin, Dan Drollette Jr

This election will take place in a landscape full of threats to many of the world’s democracies. This issue of the Bulletin strives to help citizens and their public officials reduce those threats and preserve representative governance.

The campaign volunteer who used AI to help swing Pakistan’s elections: Interview with Jibran Ilyas

By Thomas Gaulkin

The US-based architect of an unusual and perhaps unprecedented electoral intervention tells how and why he created an AI-generated message from former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan—who had been imprisoned on a variety of controversial charges—to his followers in the waning days of Pakistan’s national elections.

How demagogues destroy democracy: a step-by-step global guide

By John Keane

Today's demagogues are the harbingers of a new, 21st-century form of despotism: a corrupted, "phantom democracy" in which periodic elections are held but the rich become super-rich and omnipotent—while most of the populace is gripped by feelings of powerlessness.

Constitutional mistakes of the past can tyrannize the present—but we can fix them

By Lawrence Douglas

The United States lacks an electoral court to protect the integrity of the electoral process—in fact, our electoral system is organized in such a way that it invites attacks on its integrity. These problems in design can be traced back to the US Constitution, which suffers from certain defects that leave the United States vulnerable to democratic back-sliding.

The path to compulsory voting

By Aidan Calvelli

Americans don’t vote. For all their talk of democracy, US voters have some of the lowest turnout rates in the developed world. Other countries have taken on their turnout woes with a direct approach: compulsory voting. Here's how it could be made a reality here.

An interview about the 2024 election with Harper Reed, chief technology officer for Obama 2012

By John Mecklin

An overview, from an insider, of the technological landscape involved in the last few months of the 2024 election—whether they be candidates, political operatives, or informed voters.

RFK Jr.’s presidential ambitions may have fallen short, but his anti-vax beliefs are winning in many statehouses

By Matt Field

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign may be over. But the anti-vax movement has been notching wins in statehouses across the country.

AI misinformation detectors can’t save us from tyranny—at least not yet

By Walter Scheirer

AI-powered misinformation detectors—artificial intelligence tools that identify false or inaccurate online content—have emerged as a potential intervention for helping internet users understand the veracity of the content they view. However, the algorithms used to create these detectors are experimental and largely untested at the scale necessary to be effective on a social media platform.

To protect democratic values, journalism must save itself

By Sara Goudarzi

In 2023, an average of 2.5 local newspapers shut down each week. This year seems to be following a similar trend. With fewer professional journalists keeping watch over politicians and the process of voting—and an information landscape that is rife with falsehoods and propaganda—democracy is under threat.

Interview: Lawrence Norden on US election security

By Dawn Stover

A deep dive into the nuts-and-bolts of election security, resiliency, ballots, and ballot-counting, and why it would be so hard to produce a false result. Among other things, 99 percent of polling places now have paper printouts of each electronic vote, offering hard physical evidence—a paper trail—in the event of an audit or a full-blown recount. That was not the case a decade or so ago, when electronic voting was first getting widely introduced.

Indian nuclear weapons, 2024

By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda, Eliana Johns, Mackenzie Knight

India continues to modernize its nuclear arsenal, with at least four new weapon systems and several new delivery platforms under development. We estimate that India may have produced enough military plutonium for 130 to 210 nuclear warheads but likely has produced only around 172, although the country’s warhead stockpile is likely growing.

The campaign volunteer who used AI to help swing Pakistan’s elections: Interview with Jibran Ilyas

By Thomas Gaulkin

The US-based architect of an unusual and perhaps unprecedented electoral intervention tells how and why he created an AI-generated message from former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan—who had been imprisoned on a variety of controversial charges—to his followers in the waning days of Pakistan’s national elections.

How demagogues destroy democracy: a step-by-step global guide

By John Keane

Today's demagogues are the harbingers of a new, 21st-century form of despotism: a corrupted, "phantom democracy" in which periodic elections are held but the rich become super-rich and omnipotent—while most of the populace is gripped by feelings of powerlessness.

Constitutional mistakes of the past can tyrannize the present—but we can fix them

By Lawrence Douglas

The United States lacks an electoral court to protect the integrity of the electoral process—in fact, our electoral system is organized in such a way that it invites attacks on its integrity. These problems in design can be traced back to the US Constitution, which suffers from certain defects that leave the United States vulnerable to democratic back-sliding.

The path to compulsory voting

By Aidan Calvelli

Americans don’t vote. For all their talk of democracy, US voters have some of the lowest turnout rates in the developed world. Other countries have taken on their turnout woes with a direct approach: compulsory voting. Here's how it could be made a reality here.

An interview about the 2024 election with Harper Reed, chief technology officer for Obama 2012

By John Mecklin

An overview, from an insider, of the technological landscape involved in the last few months of the 2024 election—whether they be candidates, political operatives, or informed voters.

RFK Jr.’s presidential ambitions may have fallen short, but his anti-vax beliefs are winning in many statehouses

By Matt Field

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign may be over. But the anti-vax movement has been notching wins in statehouses across the country.

AI misinformation detectors can’t save us from tyranny—at least not yet

By Walter Scheirer

AI-powered misinformation detectors—artificial intelligence tools that identify false or inaccurate online content—have emerged as a potential intervention for helping internet users understand the veracity of the content they view. However, the algorithms used to create these detectors are experimental and largely untested at the scale necessary to be effective on a social media platform.

To protect democratic values, journalism must save itself

By Sara Goudarzi

In 2023, an average of 2.5 local newspapers shut down each week. This year seems to be following a similar trend. With fewer professional journalists keeping watch over politicians and the process of voting—and an information landscape that is rife with falsehoods and propaganda—democracy is under threat.

Interview: Lawrence Norden on US election security

By Dawn Stover

A deep dive into the nuts-and-bolts of election security, resiliency, ballots, and ballot-counting, and why it would be so hard to produce a false result. Among other things, 99 percent of polling places now have paper printouts of each electronic vote, offering hard physical evidence—a paper trail—in the event of an audit or a full-blown recount. That was not the case a decade or so ago, when electronic voting was first getting widely introduced.

Indian nuclear weapons, 2024

By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda, Eliana Johns, Mackenzie Knight

India continues to modernize its nuclear arsenal, with at least four new weapon systems and several new delivery platforms under development. We estimate that India may have produced enough military plutonium for 130 to 210 nuclear warheads but likely has produced only around 172, although the country’s warhead stockpile is likely growing.

September 2024

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Albert Einstein in Washington, D.C., between 1921 and 1923. Harris & Ewing, photographers. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016885961/

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