AI-security technology will soon be installed on 14 security cameras at the Thurston County Voter Registration Center.
In a divisive 3-2 vote on Tuesday, Jan. 20, the Thurston County Board of Commissioners approved an interlocal agreement with the Washington state Department of Commerce to procure and install software on existing security cameras at the Voter Registration Center, located at 2915 29th Avenue Southwest in Tumwater.
Eight of the cameras are located outside the building and six are located inside.
The work is part of a $35,104 pilot project grant the Thurston County Auditor’s Office received from the Washington state Department of Commerce in 2025.
The AI-security software is intended to “quickly and accurately identify and prevent potential threats of violence against County Elections staff, members of the public, visitors, and Thurston County Sheriff deputies patrolling the building during elections and throughout the year,” according to project documents.
The pilot project timeline indicates the Thurston County Auditor’s Office will start installing the software this month and test it through June.
Elections department and sheriff’s office staff will be surveyed at the beginning and end of the project to determine if they “feel safer, more secure, and more willing to remain in their positions," project documents state.
While the Board of County Commissioners was initially set to approve the interlocal agreement Tuesday as part of its consent agenda, Commissioner Rachel Grant moved to consider it as a separate item.
Grant and fellow Commissioner Emily Clouse both expressed concerns about the agreement due to concerns about how the AI software will be used.
“I’m not comfortable approving AI software for the auditor’s office at this time,” Grant said, adding that she hoped to remove it from Tuesday’s agenda entirely to allow for time to gather more information on the software.
“I’m just worried about enforceable safeguards and how the data can be used once it leaves our hands,” Grant said. “We can’t fully or unwind something once it goes outwards into other hands, and so for that reason, I am not going to support this.”
Clouse echoed Grant’s concerns, adding that she wants time to go over an agreement with the software vendor that the auditor’s office is working on sending to her.
“I talked with the auditor about that, and it seemed like that would be an okay approach, just to allow for due diligence so that I can really fully understand the scope,” Clouse said.
The software does not include facial recognition and will not be used to identify voters or monitor lawful political activity, according to Commissioner Carolina Mejia.
“This agreement strengthens physical security at an election facility without changing how elections are run. It protects people,” Mejia said. “Protecting election facilities from threats and harassment is a part of protecting democracy, and that’s why I’m supportive of this request.”
Clouse said that she trusts the Thurston County Auditor’s Office to implement and manage the program, but has concerns about data privacy because the Department of Justice is the one funding the program through the state Department of Commerce.
While the interlocal agreement does explicitly state that the Department of Justice won’t have access to the data collected by the auditor’s office’s cameras, Clouse said, “we’ve seen them breach those contracts with other agencies such as the Department of Licensing multiple times. We see them breaching these agreements across the country. I do have concerns about that.”
Commissioner Wayne Fournier opposed Clouse’s claim that she hasn’t had enough time to review the interlocal agreement and associated documents, saying it originally came up as in early December and has been discussed in multiple work sessions and executive sessions since.
“We are all sharing concerns about certain types of data and how it could be used inappropriately, but I’m very confident that the kind of information being collected here is not that kind, and the auditor has indicated that this item needs to proceed,” Fournier said. “Time is of the essence, critical to election security, critical to election staff staff security.”
Fournier and Clouse got into a back and forth argument during the meeting about previous discussions about the interlocal agreement and data sharing in general, access to the vendor agreement, and whether it was legally possible to delay the motion another week.
The board ultimately approved the agreement, with Fournier, Mejia and Commissioner Tye Menser voting in favor, and Grant and Clouse voting against.
Public comment was the next item on the agenda after the vote. One constituent called Clouse and Fournier’s argument during the meeting “hypocritical” due to Clouse posting a video of law enforcement activity earlier this week and then deleting the video. Several constituents also spoke to echo data sharing concerns brought up by Grant and Clouse.
Fournier left the meeting while the second of four public commenters was speaking.
He did not return for the end of the meeting or the public hearing that followed.
“I’m appalled that a county commissioner left before public comment was complete,” one public commenter said.
Following that comment, Menser confirmed that Fournier left for a planned Experience Olympia meeting, where he sits on the board as a representative for Thurston County.
