Is there a digital voting ID for the presidential election?
Is it true that the election authority issued valid voting documents to Central American immigrants?
How can I vote if I’m bedridden?
Where is my polling place?
These questions and others were met with immediate answers thanks to an alliance between the National Electoral Institute (INE) — Mexico’s highest election authority — and Agence France-Presse (AFP), Animal Político, and Telemundo. The partnership was further facilitated by technological solutions developed by Meedan.
Our open-source platform, Check, has been used in large-scale election projects around the world. It’s available in more than 30 languages and has been deployed for similar initiatives in India, Brazil, and the United States.
Supporting democratic processes in Mexico since 2018
This is not the first time that Meedan has supported election integrity efforts in Mexico. In the 2018 presidential election, we provided the technology that enabled Verificado 2018, a collaborative effort in which more than 80 partners — media groups, universities, and nongovernmental organizations — came together to analyze content and disseminate reliable information.
The 2024 election presented a new opportunity for collaboration during an unprecedented moment in the country’s history. Between 2018 and 2024, nearly 10 million people were added to the voter rolls. Moreover, among the three presidential candidates, the two front-runners were women. From the very start of the campaign season, it was clear that the 2024 election would be historic.
Inés, the citizenry, and the media
In 2021, INE launched an automated messaging service on WhatsApp named Inés. Users were able to message the chatbot for instantaneous answers to key questions about the voting process. For instance, voters could ask which documents they needed to cast a vote or whether something they saw on social media was true or false.
As 2024 approached, Meedan was able to help connect the bot — and information generated by INE — to the databases of media outlets that were running operational verification and fact-checking desks. In this way, the outlets were able to help back Inés up during the election season.
The main questions from Mexican voters
In the 54 days that the project was in operation, the chatbot received 6,940 queries. Of those, 18% fell into one of two camps:
- Requests to fact-check news items that turned out to be false.
- Requests for general information about the voting process.
Questions about the voting process and related rules were some of the most common submissions. On 748 occasions, citizens asked about voter IDs — the only valid document for casting a vote in Mexico. The most common topics of discussion were:
- Renewing a voter ID.
- Obtaining a voter ID for the first time.
- Reporting the theft or loss of a voter ID.
On another 616 occasions, citizens asked for help finding their polling location.
The most common news items citizens shared for fact-checking were:
- The false claim that INE voting pens were erasable (205 submissions).
- The incorrect assertion that voting for multiple parties would nullify a ballot (23 submissions).
- The untrue rumor that Mexican citizens living abroad had their voting rights revoked (15 submissions).
AFP, Animal Político, and Telemundo shared, in total, 90 fact-checks and explainer articles. Of those, Inés distributed 65, which were used to respond to 1,219 questions. The highest traffic days for Inés occurred when the project launched on April 17 and on election day, June 2.
Collaboration and experimentation: Keys for the future
We believe the ongoing operation of a chatbot can be an enormous benefit, even outside of elections, and it can serve to help preserve democratic processes. Technology, when coupled with strategically implemented programmatic initiatives, can help foster civic engagement and critical thinking, and it can be used to better prepare voters for future elections.
At Meedan, we know that the success of these projects lies largely in the collaborative spirit of our partners and their openness to well-considered, careful, and deliberate innovation.
