LWV Files Federal Lawsuit Against AI-Generated Robocalls Sent on the Eve of the New Hampshire Presidential Primary

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Today, the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire, the League of Women Voters of the United States, and individual New Hampshire voters filed a federal lawsuit against Steve Kramer, Lingo Telecom, LLC, and Life Corporation for voter intimidation, coercion, and deception ahead of the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary. The defendants used illegal AI-generated robocalls to discourage voters from participating in the primary. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, seeks to order the defendants to cease engaging in illegal, dishonest, and deceptive tactics nationwide.

Two days before the New Hampshire presidential primary, the defendants sent robocalls to New Hampshire voters with a “deepfake” simulated voice of President Joe Biden to discourage them from participating in that primary. The New Hampshire robocalls urged recipients not to vote in the primary and to “save” their vote for the November 2024 US Presidential Election.  

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan voting rights organization, is concerned that affected voters will be disinclined to participate in voting at all and that the damage created by these robocalls will be long-lasting and detrimental to the organization’s efforts to encourage registration and voting.

“These deceptive robocalls attempted to cause widespread confusion among New Hampshire voters,” said Liz Tentarelli, president of the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire. “As a nonpartisan organization, the League of Women Voters works to ensure that all voters, regardless of their party affiliation, have the most accurate election information to make their voices heard. We will continue to advocate for New Hampshire voters and fight against malicious schemes to suppress the vote.”

“The use of artificial intelligence to discourage voters from participating in elections is an egregious action which must be stopped,” said Celina Stewart, chief counsel at the League of Women Voters of the United States. “Voters deserve the ability to cast their ballots without second guessing the process, especially when election staff heroes work diligently to carry out a seamless and efficient election. For over 100 years, the League of Women Voters has worked to protect voters from these unlawful voter suppression tactics and will continue to fight back against bad-faith actors who aim to disrupt our democratic system.”

The plaintiffs are represented in this case by the nonpartisan voting rights legal advocacy organization Free Speech For People; Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; and Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau, & Pachios, Chartered, LLP.

“Fraudulently made robocalls have the potential to devastate voter turnout by flooding thousands of voters with intimidating, threatening, or coercive messages in a matter of hours,” says Courtney Hostetler, Senior Counsel at Free Speech For People, which serves as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. “No one should abuse technology to make lawful voters think that they should not, or cannot safely, vote in the primaries or in any election. It is an honor to represent the League of Women Voters and the other plaintiffs in this important case to protect the right to vote.”

"As a former state attorney general, I know the damage that voter suppression can inflict on our democracy,” said Mark Herring of Akin, a lawyer for the plaintiffs and former two-term Virginia attorney general. "We must hold accountable those who abuse new technology to undermine our freedom to vote."

The groups are asking the court to declare the defendants’ actions in New Hampshire’s primary as violating the Voting Rights Act and other state and federal consumer protection laws, requesting a permanent injunction from creating robocalls to voters in other primaries, prevent defendants from generating robocalls impersonating US politicians, from distributing spoofed texts and calls discouraging people from voting, or from distributing any mass communications that urge people not to vote.

Find a copy of the complaint here.

Watch a recording of the March 14, 2024, press briefing (26 minutes).

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Free Speech For People is a national non-profit organization dedicated to defending our democracy and our Constitution. The organization serves as a leading force in the country in litigation to protect the right to vote, including prior litigation stopping illegal voter intimidation in Minnesota leading up to the November 2020 election and current cases challenging voter intimidation in Colorado and voter suppression laws in Arizona and Texas.