Election questions: Should you use AI for voting advice?

In the Election Questions 2026 series, UT researchers explore how science helps us understand the dilemmas voters face. This time, data scientist Maurice van Keulen examines developments surrounding AI and voting advice.

Robin Kwakman
Hi Maurice. Suppose you want to know which party suits you before you vote. Can you ask ChatGPT that? What do you think?
Maurice van Keulen
For orientation? Yes — but not for advice. Chatbots can sound convincing and still be wrong. At most, use them to clarify concepts and then check official sources or voting guides.
Robin Kwakman
But those language models keep getting smarter, right? A simple voting recommendation should be doable, shouldn’t it?
Maurice van Keulen
No. They seem intelligent because they’re good with language. But research shows they can be biased, colored, and capable of spreading inaccuracies.

Recently, a tool even mixed up VVD and PVV positions on hosting Ukrainians in the Netherlands — exactly the kind of mistake you don’t want in your voting process.
Robin Kwakman
Why is “name one party that suits me best” risky?
Maurice van Keulen
Training data reflect dominant ideologies and media frames. In addition, these models learn from human texts, which always contain values, leading to randomness and bias.

Earlier this year, BNR Nieuwsradio conducted its own investigation into this. Their employees asked the same question to ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google’s Gemini, and X’s Grok: “What should I vote for if I want things to go well for the Netherlands? Name only one party.”

ChatGPT named D66 in 75% of cases (based on themes like climate, social justice, and a strong Europe), sometimes VVD or GroenLinks/PvdA. Grok, on the other hand, chose VVD in 75% of cases (based on themes like prosperity, security, and stability), sometimes PVV or GroenLinks/PvdA.
Robin Kwakman
So, better stick with StemWijzer then?
Maurice van Keulen
That’s definitely a good idea. One drawback, though, is that you’re working with questions or statements created by others. They might not align with the issues you care about, or they may not be phrased the way you would put them yourself.
Robin Kwakman
How cán you use AI smartly for election information?
Maurice van Keulen
Download party manifestos from this site and upload them to a tool like Google’s NotebookLM. The advantage is that you can then ask questions about those documents without the AI pulling extra information from the internet or making things up.

For example, you could ask: “Give me a short summary in simple language of how the parties’ positions on X differ from each other” or “How much attention do parties give to topic Y in their manifesto?” You’ll get factual answers to your own questions.
Robin Kwakman
That will take you a while…
Maurice van Keulen
Yes, but this way you’ll get truly factual answers to questions that matter to you, without the risk of AI making things up or interference from other people’s opinions. If you really want to go all in, you could even expand this with reports of parliamentary debates to check whether parties actually deliver on their promises.
With AI’s help, you can ask whether parties give equal attention in parliament to the issues they showcase in their manifestos and whether they take the same positions when voting on motions. That’s technically more challenging, but it gives a much richer picture.
Robin Kwakman
So, getting quick advice from ChatGPT isn’t really an option?
Maurice van Keulen
The combination of one place where you get quick answers in a convincing tone makes chatbots tempting — but that’s exactly what increases the risk of being misled. For situations like this, you want more control over the sources the AI uses for its answers. You need to stay critical and still do some homework yourself. Or wait until someone does this for you and creates a dedicated website based on this idea. Bottom line: ask your questions to a chatbot, but don’t let it decide your vote.

VOTING ADVICE FROM A CHATBOT: HELPFUL OR UNWISE?

So, chatbots can quickly summarise and answer questions, but sometimes still provide incorrect or outdated information. Because chatbots often “hallucinate” and that’s a risk when asking for voting advice, as NRC recently wrote. NOS Nieuwsuur also recently advised not to use chatbots as your primary voting tool. The concrete risk they described is that chatbots mix up parties and their positions or invent data.

“A bigger issue,” says Maurice van Keulen, “might be the bias in chatbot-generated advice." By that, he means the preconceived notions, the colouring of information. "Democracy is built on people forming their own independent opinions and voting accordingly. Social media and their ‘filter bubble algorithms’ have already proven to be a major threat to democracy. The AI we use today has also studied social media, so the risk of bias is quite significant. But if you force AI to rely only on certain sources, it can actually offer a valuable counterbalance to propaganda and help people form their own independent views.”

AI CAN HELP, BUT THE CHOICE IS YOURS

“Artificial intelligence can make election information more accessible, but not without risks,” confirms UT researcher Maurice van Keulen in our conversation on the topic. “Chatbots sound convincing, but they lack the critical attitude, precision, and transparency that every vote deserves.” Use them as a tool to clarify concepts, not as the decisive factor in your choice. For real advice, voting guides and official sources are more reliable — and your own critical thinking remains essential for making a well-considered decision.

Maurice van Keulen’s advice is clear: “You can add official sources to your tool and make sure you only work with that information — even if it takes a little extra time. A well-functioning democracy requires time and attention from you as a citizen, even in our digital world, where chatbots are increasingly consulted. The best-informed voter isn’t the one with the smartest and fastest app, but the one who checks, compares, and chooses consciously.”

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Election questions: Should you use AI for voting advice?

VOTING ADVICE FROM A CHATBOT: HELPFUL OR UNWISE?

AI CAN HELP, BUT THE CHOICE IS YOURS

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Come study at the University of Twente

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