Innovation in Action
Across the nation, we are seeing a wave of innovation powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI), transcending both public and private sector industries. From streamlining essential services to improving community engagement, AI wields great promise – when used responsibly. To support innovation and momentum, the National Association of Counties (NACo) recently released an insightful and valuable resource page: Artificial Intelligence and GenAI in Motion: County Innovations and Use Cases.
This resource highlights real-world cases of how county governments are leveraging this technology to enhance vital services, strengthen operations, and improve service to their communities. This serves as a powerful reminder – and inspires potential use cases in other counties – that innovation is happening now, and local governments are on the frontlines of change.
Why this Matters for Election and Government Officials
AI has the potential to help streamline processes, strengthen operational reviews, and ease complex operations and tasks, while also improving voter communication and education. With careful assessment and review, built-in safeguards, and human oversight, AI can rapidly scale capacity for jurisdictions, while maintaining the high standards of trust, accuracy, and transparency that are essential in elections and vital services.
This NACo resource can help counties:
- Discover practical examples of how AI is being leveraged in county government
- Imagine opportunities to enhance workflows, such as developing communication plans or social media engagement, assembling marketing material for poll worker recruitment, or even designing tabletop exercise injects.
- Understand potential risks and governance strategies, like ethical, security, or data privacy considerations.
- Connect with your peers in other jurisdictions who have already implemented, are learning, or in the process of implementing an AI use case.
Safety Top of Mind
As adoption of AI tools continues to increase, from chatbots to document processing, government officials must ensure their tools maintain accuracy, security, and accountability. Thankfully, there are resources and recommended processes available to help you establish these safeguards and guardrails.
Below are some core concepts:
- Transparency & Accountability
AI decisions should be traceable and explainable, with oversight mechanisms and logs in place, and disclosure to the public how AI is being used. - Rigorous Testing, Monitoring, & Humans-in-the-loop
AI tools and performance must be thoroughly and continuously tested, monitored, and reviewed by humans, especially for critical services like elections, permitting, and other services and benefits. - Privacy, Governance, & Legal Alignment
Data must be protected through strict access controls and data use policies. Ensure AI tools align with national, state, or local standards and regulations, where applicable. - Contingency Plans & Training
Have contingency plans ready before deploying new technology, as nothing ever goes as planned! Ensure staff are well-trained in the systems, reviews, and contingencies.
The Brennan Center outlines extensive best practices and checklists that can help administrators in considering and implementing AI responsibly. See Safeguards for Using Artificial Intelligence in Election Administration. It provides additional items to consider as officials explore tools with AI.
You’re Not Alone
Innovation feeds on collaboration and learning from peers. Counties are in a unique position to leverage both. Whether you’re just beginning your journey or have already kicked off exploration of AI tools, this NACo guide will help shed light on the possibilities!