In 2022, the last time Ontarians went to the polls, less than half of eligible voters cast a vote. It was the lowest voter turnout for a provincial election in the province's history. With Canadians increasingly disengaged from politics, the Democratic Engagement Exchange at Toronto Metropolitan University is working to increase voter engagement.
Over the past seven years, the Democratic Engagement Exchange has helped Canadians discover why it's important to vote and helped demystify the voting process. However, many voters still struggle to decide which candidate they should vote for. John Beebe, director and founder of the Democratic Engagement Exchange, has received a $100,000 project grant from the Max Bell Foundation to address this problem. The Max Bell Foundation provides funding to support public policy advocacy projects, including those that support civic engagement and education.
As a Max Bell Foundation Senior Fellow, Beebe will lead a team to develop and evaluate AI tools that can be used to help voters decide which candidate to vote for, and ultimately increase democratic engagement.
"At the heart of it, this project is an attempt to see if we can use AI tools to help people make well-informed decisions," said Beebe. "We want people to feel confident that they are making decisions based on the issues that they care about and based on their beliefs and their values."
New tools for a better democracy
Currently, voters can watch election debates and read news articles, but tools to help voters explore the specific issues they care about are lacking. Beebe hopes using AI tools will be an effective way to support voters and ease their decision-making.
He says the best case scenario is one where voters can ask questions to help them better understand complex issues in addition to the candidates' views on those issues.
"People are concerned about housing affordability. They're concerned about the climate crisis. They're concerned about a whole range of complex issues that don't have simple answers," said Beebe.
The research will test the technical feasibility of using AI tools to help voters better understand their choices at the ballot box and develop principles and guidelines for tool development. While the project is in the early stages, Beebe anticipates developing and testing interactive AI tools over the course of two elections. These will include chatbots and non-text-based tools that may emerge before the project wraps up in January 2026.
The project will also explore skepticism and its impact on using AI tools for public good. Since AI has been known for creating and spreading misinformation and disinformation in the past, one challenge will be earning voters trust in AI. To address this, the team will need to be transparent about the sources of information used and provided by the AI, said Beebe.
Applying research to the real world
Beebe was invited to apply for the Max Bell Foundation grant, based on his previous work with the Democratic Engagement Exchange.
"I think this grant is really an affirmation of TMU's commitment to applied research," he said. "The work that I do doesn't fit into a traditional academic box that you might find elsewhere. We're looking at the big challenges that we face as a society and determining how we, as a university, can address those challenges."
The Democratic Engagement Exchange is housed within the Faculty of Arts and offers two flagship engagement programs, Democracy Talks and Vote PopUp. Learn more about the Democratic Engagement Exchange.
The Max Bell Foundation has supported a number of TMU initiatives, including the former Brookfield Institute of Innovation + Entrepreneurship. Learn more about the Max Bell Foundation.
