Over 50 election officials attend AI + Elections bootcamp

At the beginning of December, the Mechanics of Democracy Laboratory (MODL) hosted its second AI + Elections Clinic bootcamp, bringing more than 50 election officials and experts to the East Coast in Washington, D.C. Held at the Ambassador Barbara Barrett and Justice O’Connor ASU Washington Center in the heart of downtown D.C., the day-long event offered participants an opportunity to immerse themselves in a hands-on learning and training experience that explored AI technologies and their application in election administration.

As we continue to assess how AI is redefining the way information is created and understood, our goal for our bootcamps is to design a series for election officials to meet this moment with the essential tools and knowledge they need to responsibly and effectively integrate it into their workflows.

The bootcamp began with guided instruction from TJ Pyche, with The Elections Group, helping participants set up accounts on AI platforms including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and CoPilot. Setting up GPT accounts ensured that each participant had a technological foundation as well as familiarity with the tools they would be utilizing throughout the day’s programming.

With quick remarks from Bill Gates, Mechanics of Democracy Lab (MODL), and Commissioner Ben Hovland, Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the bootcamp jumped right into session. Members from The Elections Group, Noah Praetz and TJ Pyche, led a session discussing AI in the context of election administration, speaking upon how AI tools can help support election workflows. This discussion was followed by Michael Moore, CISO for the Arizona Secretary of State, who walked attendees through the foundation of AI in the context of election administration. In his discussion, he highlighted the importance of security, responsible usage, and potential limitations through interactive exercises. Attendees were able to try their hand at developing AI-generated memos, images, and creatively-engineered prompts through the use of Civic Roundtable, a community platform utilized by MODL. Moore also conducted an exercise on the benefits and potential risks of deepfakes by creating both visual and audio deepfakes of volunteers from the participants.

In the afternoon, the conversation shifted to include privacy, ethics, and safety precautions in the context of using AI technology. Georgetown University experts, Ioannis Ziogas and Lia Merivaki, conducted a discussion surrounding the ethical landscape of AI, talking about the transparency, privacy, accountability, and potential implications of using AI. Participants gained a thoughtful and nuanced understanding of what AI governance could look like and engaged in thought-provoking conversations as the discussion progressed.

The bootcamp also included brief remarks from experts from top technology organizations that offered a glimpse into how the AI landscape is developing not only in the election administration space but also in daily workflows. Both Ethan Chumley, Microsoft, and Welton Chang, Anthropic, highlighted these emerging capabilities, safeguards, and the ever-expanding role of AI in both the public and private sectors.

The bootcamp closed with a security-focused panel moderated by Bill Gates, featuring Michael Moore, Trevor Timmons, The Elections Group, Liz Howard, Brennan Center for Justice, and Ethan Chumley. The conversation explored security protocols and how we can safely and securely implement AI-driven technologies into election processes.