Early ballots and how campaigns are using AI with Optiq Data Co-Founder Cole Patterson | CA Politics 360
Cole Patterson, co-founder of Optiq Data, shared his insight into how political campaigns in California are using artificial intelligence and provided a look at early ballot numbers ahead of the November election.
Patterson co-founded Civiq, an AI-powered campaign intelligence platform launched in February 2026, which he said is designed to streamline campaign operations by integrating various data sources.
“We’ve been very fortunate to service hundreds of campaigns up and down the ballot at all levels, from statewide ballot measures, statewide candidates all the way down to local offices like city council, mayor, and school board,” Patterson said.
Civiq combines campaign finance, election, and voter data into a single system called the “ontology.”
“The ontology is actually what allows for our proprietary AI tools to read from that database and provide campaigns with context that’s relevant to their specific races that they’re running,” Patterson said, including voter information.
While many recognize AI in campaigns through social media ads, mailers, and text messages, Patterson explained that Civiq focuses on operational aspects.
“A great example of how a campaign would utilize the platform is actually doing research, understanding the demographics and the issues that move voters in their specific districts,” he said.
Patterson highlighted the platform’s impact, stating, “About 700 million voter contacts have been done through our platform this past election cycle. But actually about 450 million of those have been generated through the use of AI.” He added that this approach leads to more efficient voter communication and better outcomes for communities.
Although Patterson declined to name specific campaigns using Civiq, he emphasized the platform’s broad adoption by campaigns and advocacy groups in California.
Civiq’s website also allows users to subscribe for free to the latest ballot returns in California.
Discussing voter turnout ahead of the election, Patterson said, “It looks like there’s just over a half million ballots that have been returned statewide so far. There’s about 23 million registered voters in California, so only about 2% of the ballots have been returned.”
He noted that voters over 65 years old make up about half of the returns, despite accounting for only a quarter of registrations.
Patterson cautioned that these numbers will rise significantly as Election Day approaches, with about 50% of ballots typically returned in the final days.
“We could enter election night and start counting ballots that, you know, five, six, seven, 8 million, total ballots that have been cast only for a few weeks later, once the final tallies come in to end up with somewhere 13, 14, 15, maybe even 16 million votes, total cast statewide,” he said.
He also observed that the current election’s return rate is slower than the 2026 primary.
“I’m not really sure if that’s an enthusiasm thing or whether it’s a county, mechanical reporting thing, but we’re definitely really fast, and we’ll be tracking that along the way,” Patterson said.
KCRA 3 Political Director Ashley Zavalareports in-depth coverage of top California politics and policy issues. She is also the host of “California Politics 360.” Get informed each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KCRA 3.
