LaRose announces today his office has trained and deployed state’s first AI-powered election administration assistant 

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced this week 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.
 
The new, tech-savvy aide, who goes by the name Eva (for Elections Virtual Assistant), will 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.
 
“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,” said Secretary LaRose. “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.” 
 
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 is exclusively trained on content from both the Ohio Election Official Manual 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.
 
“This will be an incredible resource for election officials across Ohio," said Seneca County Board of Elections Director Lori Elchert. "Election work is fast-paced and detail-driven, and having a tool that can instantly pull accurate information from official sources will make our jobs more efficient and allow us to better serve voters.”
 
The new Eva resource adds to a long list of data and technology advancements championed by Secretary LaRose to make state and local government more accurate, transparent, and secure. These tools include the following:
 
• Voter Registration Dashboard;

• Daily Voter Registration Snapshots;

• Voter Roll Integrity Tools;

• Election Results Dashboard;

• Early Voting Dashboard; and

• Modernized Election Officials Manual.
 
“Technology is giving us the tools to make election integrity a central focus of everything we do,” said Secretary LaRose. “I hope that when we leave this office Ohioans will look at our administration and say we left it better and more accountable than it was before, and Eva is part of that mission.”