AI ready for government work

CELINA - The Mercer County Board of Elections appears to be the first county department to have adopted an artificial intelligence policy to govern the usage of the increasingly ubiquitous technology in the workplace.

Board members gave their blessing to the document at a recent meeting after being informed by board director Kristi Rable that speakers at an Ohio winter elections officials conference underscored the importance of AI policies, reportedly for reasons of accountability, transparency, public trust and elections integrity.

Rable received a copy of Butler County Board of Election's AI policy, which she then modified and presented to board members Phil Long, Eric Lochtefeld, Toni Slusser and Del Kramer for their consideration.

"Eric said it was a little restrictive, but since we don't really use AI in the office, I'm OK with it starting restrictive," Rable said. "This is always something we can revisit and change."

The policy outlines the appropriate use of AI technology by authorized personnel for the purpose of creating social media content and communication responses. It strictly prohibits using AI-generated content without human review and approval, as well as AI-generated responses in legal, contractual or compliance matters without oversight.

Other prohibited acts include sharing confidential, private or sensitive data with AI tools, using AI to impersonate individuals or mislead members of the public, and creating or spreading misinformation or discriminatory content.

"This clearly states (that) nothing leaves this office without thorough review," Rable said. "I think that's where you get in trouble with AI is when you don't go back and re-read stuff and tweak things so it's in your own words. I don't want everything to come out of this office and sound like a bot wrote it."

AI could provide a great deal of help in making the poll worker training manual more concise, Rable pointed out.

"That's something we have to re-read and make sure that things are still factual, and it doesn't change the meaning of what's there. I think it could be helpful," she said. "But … they stress very strongly, you need a policy in place before you start."

Lochtefeld encouraged approaching the policy as a living document.

"If we do pass this version and say that we plan to continuously review it over and over, I would like staff to let us know if it is too restrictive … if there is a tool or a purpose that you want us to change," he said.

The board already has guardrails in place in the forms of policies outlining ethical standards and the dissemination of information, Lochtefeld argued.

"You shouldn't be giving … any private information we have to AI, just as you wouldn't make it a public record," he said. "Then in reverse of that, so much of our stuff is public record to begin with that … AI was probably already trained on that data. So … dropping a chapter of the EOM (Election Official Manual) into a chatbot isn't violating anything because it's already public record."

Asked by Slusser how AI would be used under the policy before the board's next meeting, Rable said it would assist in updating the poll working training manual, in accordance with Senate Bill 293.

"We're going to have to redo what we have written for workstations already and do some combining, and I want to do that in a way that it's not all choppy and like we just threw it together," she said.

With the all of the extra work required to conduct elections under Senate Bill 293 and to further train deputy director Stephanie Redfearn-Murdock, there's a lot that must be completed before the May 5 primary election, Rable said.

"(AI) could help alleviate some of that and make it concise and clear and good material," she noted.

Board members proceeded to approve the policy.

EVA to aid elections officials

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Nov. 13 that his office has trained and deployed the state's first AI-powered election administration assistant "with immediate, around-the-clock availability to election officials in all 88 counties."

Dubbed Eva (Elections Virtual Assistant), the aide will reportedly serve as a cyber-advisor to boards of elections, using the latest technology to offer targeted, efficient guidance on the often complex rules and procedures of Ohio's voting process, according to a news release from LaRose's office.

"She's definitely a data nerd and a bit on the wonky side, but I'm not sure I've met someone who can answer a common question about election administration as quickly and effectively as Eva," LaRose said in a statement."Seriously, this is a game-changer for our election officials. For decades, they've had to manually search a 524-page rulebook to find basic instructions on everything from managing the voter registration database to conducting a post-election audit. Eva can provide those answers immediately with a simple search prompt."

LaRose said Eva's database, which is still a beta project in development, is designed to ensure accuracy by drawing only from official sources rather than the wider internet. The AI-powered tool, the release notes, is exclusively trained on content from both the EOM and the annual election calendar.

Search prompts find the relevant information from those documents and offer quick summary results, much like global AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT, Grok or Google Gemini.

While Eva has proven to be "extremely accurate" during the testing stage, election officials are cautioned against relying exclusively on its AI-informed answers during beta development, and county boards of elections are always encouraged to consult with their designated county prosecutor when seeking legal advice, according to the release.

Other county offices

The Daily Standard emailed a questionnaire about AI to other county departments and agencies. The elected officeholders and department heads who responded to the email said their offices do not have an AI policy in place at this time.

Mercer County Engineer Jim Wiechart said his office does not have an AI policy but acknowledged there has been limited use of the technology, "mostly to evaluate needed parts and part information."

Likewise, Mercer County Sheriff Doug Timmerman said no such policy yet exists but could be added if AI is deemed to be a "benefit for this office."

"If we enacted AI, I am sure that there would be strong consideration NOT to use it in our Corrections Division," Timmerman wrote. "All rules and regulations are governed by B.A.D (Bureau of Adult Detention) and we would have to follow what they put in place (if they do). We would also have to consider 'Marcy's Law' which has a lot of regulations in place to protect any victim of crime."

Mercer County Treasurer Dave Wolters is tasked with receiving and investing all monies collected by other county departments, daily reconciliation of county funds and financial institution balances, serving as the investment officer and banker for fiscal management of taxes and investor of funds and billing, and collection and reconciliation of real estate and mobile home taxes.

His office has no AI policy nor does it plan to begin using AI any time soon.

"However, as the technology evolves, we would evaluate any operational efficiencies that potentially could be implemented because of AI," he said.

Ditto Mercer County Auditor Jeff Larmore, Mercer County Emergency Medical Services Director Kara Smith, Mercer County Recorder Julie Peel and Mercer County Clerk of Courts Chief Deputy Angie Fair.

They all said their offices are currently operating without AI policies.

"At this time, I cannot envision any appropriate roles for AI in our office," Mercer County Prosecutor Erin Minor told the newspaper. "All of our assistant prosecutors and I do our own research and draft our own briefs. In my opinion, it would be unethical for us to use AI to assist with those duties."

However, Minor said her office would be open to considering implementation of AI if determined to "be ethical, helpful, and cost effective in investigating crimes."

Celina Municipal Court Judge Kathryn Speelman indicated she would be amenable to the incorporation of AI in her court at some point.

"We are always looking for ways to improve Court productivity, so this may be an avenue that we could take in the future," she wrote to the newspaper.