The Cambridge Journal on AI: Law and Governance publishes contributions on the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), as well as its societal impacts and responsible use across various sectors. Prof. Christoph Bieber, head of the CAIS research program “Digital Democratic Innovations,” contributes an article to the Special Issue “Experimental Regulation” (forthcoming). In his contribution, “Creating a Regulatory Ecosystem: The Case of Electoral Modernization in California,” he examines how modern electoral systems rely on technology and the regulatory challenges this entails. Using California as an example, he shows how innovative technologies can be integrated into the electoral process through a robust regulatory framework – a model that could also provide guidance for the regulation of future AI systems.
Abstract
Modern Elections can be conceived as a socio-technical system, as the electoral process in many ways relies on technological solutions: voter information, identification and registration, collecting, verifying and counting the votes – in some countries, these steps are conducted by using innovative technologies. But how do those devices and processes actually become part of the official legislation and can finally be deployed during this sensitive and important democratic procedure? Over time, the State of California has developed a robust regulatory system for integrating innovative technology into the electoral process and is also able to change and modernize its rules and regulations. Although technologies currently used are more static, hardware-based and usually do not include algorithmic systems, the overall structure of the process may also function as a blueprint for regulating more dynamic algorithm-based or even AI-based technologies.