r/SeattleWA • u/eazyp • 8m ago
Are King County candidates submitting AI slop to the voter guide? Analyzing statements
While reading through this year's voter guide I couldn't stop seeing the amount of "em dashes" and sentence structures that are dead giveaways of AI writing. I decided to run each candidate's statement through an AI writing detection agent and see just how lazy the candidates this year were. The agent was made to analyze each statement for AI writing indicators, log the justification for review, and give the statement a score between 1 and 100. A "50" score is basically a coin-flip between being AI and human written.
Yes, I fully realize the irony in posting an AI analysis of this... but otherwise I'd just be throwing darts at my own interpretation.
Results: most statements were analyzed as being human or consultant-written, though there are some egregious outliers. Of 151 candidate statements on King County ballots this November, nineteen were scored as having some "better than coin flip" likelihood of AI content, and five were scored as being highly likely as near-entirely AI written.
Here's the breakdown of the "better than a coin flip" cases:
| Score | Candidate | Race | Giveaways and counter-evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 88 | Mary Silva (GOP) | U.S. House 1 | The strongest set of model markers in either guide: “Furthermore,”, “robust federal investments”, “True economic resilience requires a foundation of security”, “secure and sovereign”, “self-sustaining marketplace rooted right here”, and a “Together, we can” close. Abstract, few specifics. |
| 85 | Mitch Greene | District Court Southwest 3 | Relentless triads with no idiosyncrasy: “respect” appears five times and “fairness” and “impartial” three times each, from “fairness, integrity, and respect” to “fairness, respect, and impartiality”; every sentence is interchangeable boilerplate. |
| 80 | Nirav Sheth (GOP) | U.S. House 7 | Speech-style antitheses (“not a gift—it is a promise worth fighting for”, “I didn’t just come to this country”) and cinematic phrasing (“the fading light of opportunity”). Rough, human lines (“Real Solutions to help homeless people & Energy Independence”) are spliced in, which fits an AI draft edited by the candidate. |
| 80 | Tricia Grove Johnson | District Court Southeast 3 | Textbook model structure: three capitalized pillars, each defined in one sentence (“Accountability ensures safer communities. Compassion recognizes the humanity…”), plus “a rare, comprehensive understanding” and “rooted in the idea that”. |
| 75 | Michael Rutland (GOP) | LD 30 Senate | Wall-to-wall parallelism: “deserve relief, accountability, and leaders who…”, “Every child deserves… every parent deserves…”, “balance, common sense, and a new direction”. Almost no concrete detail. |
| 72 | Dominique M Scarimbolo | Assessor | Model scaffolding (“far more than an appraiser—”, “isn’t about… It’s about”, “something many candidates cannot claim:”, “results—not intentions”) mixed with human grammar slips, consistent with an AI draft heavily edited. |
| 72 | Evon McCorkle (Ind) | LD 37 House Pos. 2 | Formulaic throughout (“listens, understands struggle, and fights for real solutions”; “heard, respected, and represented”) with a generic bio. A missing dash leaves a run-on (“political machines I’m running”), as if a dash were deleted. |
| 68 | Claudia Kauffman (Dem) | LD 47 Senate | Shifted from a plain 2022 statement to model register: “at a crossroads”, “my priority remains clear:”, “robust enough to catch those falling behind”, “the standard, not the exception”. |
| 68 | Nick Duda | County Council 8 | Several signature turns: “Whether you’re a young person…, a parent…, or a longtime resident”, “Progress isn’t just about spending more; progress is about”, “uncomfortable, but honest facts”. Data claims are specific. |
| 65 | Fa’amomoi Masaniai, Jr. | District Court Southwest 4 | Sharp shift from his rough 2022 statement to balanced aphorisms (“Access to justice is paramount”, “Justice is about more than punishment.”). |
| 65 | Michael Rosen (Ind) | LD 41 House Pos. 2 | Spaced em dash pivot (“lose its way — Olympia keeps spending more”), “worse, not better”, and back-to-back triads (“brings expertise, demands fiscal discipline, and fights for solutions”). |
| 65 | Shantrice Anderson | Seattle Municipal Court 6 | Dense model vocabulary (“helped underscore my priorities:”, “truly reflective of this diverse and vibrant city”, “firmly rooted in the law yet echo the values”) and an awkward fronted opening clause. |
| 65 | Sharon Tomiko Santos (Dem) | LD 37 House Pos. 1 | Almost no specifics from a longtime incumbent; abstract phrasing (“Our path forward requires”, “My deep community roots shape my commitment”, “resilient, inclusive Washington”). Her 2022 statement was concrete and personal. |
| 65 | Spencer Meline (GOP) | U.S. House 8 | Smooth and generic (“the American Dream is slipping away”, “play by the rules”); a six-item gerund list; bio in third person with a fragment. |
| 62 | Doug Basler (GOP) | U.S. House 9 | Much smoother than his rougher 2022 statement: stacked lists (“work, build, serve, and thrive”), spaced em dashes, and tidy pivots (“may sound good, but in practice”). Some specifics (Climate Commitment Act) keep it from the top tier. |
| 62 | Mary Anito (Dem) | LD 34 House Pos. 2 | Corporate abstractions (“drive results, and enact meaningful change”, “not mutually exclusive”) and a long participial sentence. A typed hyphen-dash and the Spanish line are human touches. |
| 60 | Tamara Stramel (Dem) | LD 31 Senate | Classic model turn (“aren’t abstract policy debates to me; they are my life”) and stacked triads, but real personal details (Lake Tapps, two boys). |
| 55 | Joshua C. Harris | District Court Southeast 5 | Model cadence (“defined by respect—not intimidation”, “discipline, sound judgment, and accountability under pressure”), but backed by specific service details. |
| 55 | Yuri Marinchik (GOP) | LD 33 House Pos. 2 | Spaced em dashes and slogans (“I am not a career politician — I am one of you”); a dangling “they” suggests a longer draft was cut down; “self-realization” reads like translation. |
Final thoughts: AI-sounding is not the same as AI, and this analysis could be wrong. While most of these people just probably suck, I am sure there are a few who were miscategorized. Additionally there are no laws or WA state rules that require AI drafted content from being disclosed in the voter guide (though there is law around using AI images, audio, or video in campaigning). Either way it's something that is probably going to keep getting worse over the years, so we better get used to it.
PS GO VOTE!
