Kentucky has a new law against political deep fakes.

The General Assembly said political candidates can sue anyone that alters their image to make them say something they never said or do something that never happened.

As our June Lefler reports, Kentucky's top elections official wants the same protection.

Secretary of State Michael Adams says voters rely on his office to figure out how to cast a ballot.

He says if voters see images of him that can't be trusted, then how can they trust the election process?

An impersonation of me or my deputy secretary or senior staff of the state Board of Elections or a county clerk actually could do more harm than impersonation of a candidate.

A Lexington Republican helped pass a law this year that takes aim at political deep fakes.

And you're right.

I think that the process and distrust of of what is actually being said is is the greatest danger to a voter.

And we want to protect that as much as possible.

And said 131 went a long way.

And yet there's this tension between free, free speech in some of the space.

And then the laws in some states have gone pretty aggressive.

Do you have any thoughts on what's that balance between the free speech element and the protection of of the process?

So I think a law that would for example, prohibit someone from pretending to be me by clipping my voice or my image and generating something that says the secretary of state says, don't vote on Tuesday, vote on Wednesday, things of that nature.

There are laws against voter suppression.

They're not written like this, like New Hampshire has, I think.

I think that's an easy law to write.

And I think that's an easy law to defend in a courtroom.

I think it's an easy law to see upheld.

It's a lot trickier when we start talking about candidates because the First Amendment protects parody it to some degree, protects impersonation.

And so there's you know, there's a periphery out there that's a little untested and we just won't know until we pass some laws and see what the courts say.

Current law says political deepfakes count as electioneering.

If they're released within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Lefler.