Using Digital Fakery for Campaigning is Illegal in New Mexico – Will There be Any Consequences for Kamala Harris?

The Harris/Walz campaign has come under scrutiny for using digital fakery to give the illusion that there is enthusiastic, organic support for Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz – a move that is illegal in New Mexico.

A manipulated photo of a Harris campaign event at the Detroit Airport was shared on August 9th by Rachel Bitecofer, Democrat strategist and political analyst. The photo is allegedly depicting the moment Harris and Walz stepped off the plane at their rally:

These wholesome Americans look like they could have been painted by Norman Rockwell as they wait breathlessly hoping to catch a glimpse of the Vice President who holds the distinction of garnering the worst “net favorability” polling ratings in history.

The real scene clipped from a video of the event was decidedly less heavenly, the sky is hazy, and the individuals in the crowd don’t really have an ethereal glow:

In addition to manipulating images, the Harris/Walz campaign has been accused of bribing crowds to attend rallies in Atlanta and Wisconsin by offering free concerts from popular artists as part of the events.

Whatever the reason for crowd attendance to previous Harris/Walz rallies, enthusiasm seems to have died down significantly. Just a few days after the manipulated photo from Detroit was released, the Harris campaign held a tiny rally in North Carolina where more space was filled with press covering the event than with attendees:

Manipulating images and inflating crowd sizes by offering free concerts is bad enough, but the Harris campaign has been caught using far more nefarious fakery to give an inflated impression support. The campaign was caught placing misleading Google ads that linked to news stories but changed the real headlines and the descriptions to make them more favorable to Harris. The news outlets affected had no idea their headlines were being manipulated this way and have demanded answers from Google on why they allowed the ads to be placed. This is the same Google that has been caught repeatedly censoring conservative content on its platform with the goal of interfering in elections.

It could be argued that the candidates themselves are both fakes. Democrats have been raising alarms about the future of “democracy” since the emergence of Donald Trump and his MAGA movement on the scene of American politics. However, that same party completely bypassed the democratic primary system and installed Harris as their candidate without anyone casting a single vote for her. Harris’s decidedly undemocratic assumption of the Democrat candidacy drew widespread criticism, including from her natural allies. Black Lives Matter released a statement stating, “Any attempt to evade or override the will of voters in our primary system—no matter how historic the candidate—must be condemned.”

Walz is the current Governor of Minnesota, who has styled himself as a “combat veteran” throughout his political career to garner votes. However, Walz never served in combat and quit the military just before his National Guard unit was deployed to Iraq. Lying about military service for personal gain is known as “stolen valor” and it’s a federal crime.

Digital Manipulation of Campaign Material is Illegal in New Mexico

During the 2024 legislative cycle, the New Mexico legislature was unable to find any time to address ballooning crime, but they did manage to pass Statute 1-19-26.8, which prohibits the distribution of materially deceptive media in campaigns, including media generated using artificial intelligence without a disclaimer.

As if she knew the Harris campaign was coming, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver launched a statewide ad campaign in May to warn voters of digitally altered misinformation during the 2024 election cycle. She has created a website to raise awareness and has even placed billboards along New Mexico highways so travelers can worry about AI being used nefariously in elections while they drive instead of thinking about the rising cost living. These billboards feature Rosie the Riveter with tattoos that state “Girl Power” and “Never Give Up.” This messaging has nothing to do with elections but could be a reference to Emerge – the NGO benefactor of a huge consort of New Mexico’s radical leftist female politicians, including Oliver.

Oliver even created a guide to help voters identify fake photographs. According to Oliver, unnatural lighting is a key giveaway that a photo is fake – the Harris Detroit Airport photo is a great example of this. The new statute prohibits campaigns from distributing materially deceptive media that falsely represents a depicted individual – Harris’s fake headline Google ads would certainly fall under this category.

Since the Harris/Walz campaign is a federal race, it is unlikely that they will face any consequences in New Mexico based on the new statute unless a state political action committee or state or local candidate shares any of Harris’s fake materials as part of their own campaigns.

THE REALITY FOR DEMOCRATS:

The digital fakery of the Harris/Walz campaign has failed to convincingly move the needle when it comes to the balance of voter registrations. Since November 2020, Democrats have lost 3.6 million registrations nationwide – this despite illegal voter registrations being offered to millions upon millions of non-citizen migrants every time they apply for aid from any state or federal agency, and efforts from a Mexican NGO to urge migrants to illegally vote Democrat after they enter the United States. Democrats in New Mexico are bleeding support also with a net loss of 29,400 total Democrat registrations.

The Estancia News reached out to the Secretary of State’s office to ask Oliver if she intends to issue a voter advisory to warn people from blindly trusting campaign materials posted by the Harris/Walz campaign as part of her statewide effort to raise awareness about such things. We have yet to receive a response.