With Election Day set for Tuesday, November 3, and early voting under way, Epicenter NYC has launched a pilot chatbot that answers voters' questions by text message and WhatsApp, The Haitian Times reported on October 31.

Called “Elections 2026 by URL Media,” the service answers questions about the voting process and ballot issues using the reporting, voter guides and election coverage of Epicenter and six partner newsrooms: AsAmNews, Documented, India Currents, Native News Online, The Electorette and The Oklahoma Eagle. It relies on vetted coverage rather than the open web and links users back to the newsrooms.

Voters can text or send a WhatsApp message to 347-252-9070. The tool runs on Suwali, a community platform built by the nonprofit Meedan, which also runs Epicenter's health chatbot. The team says users are not identified.

A Pew Research Center survey cited in the article found that 8% of U.S. adults use AI chatbots for information about the 2026 elections, rising to 11% of adults under 50. Epicenter says the pilot does not replace reporters and will help it build guardrails that keep humans in the loop.