In this year's Digital Counties awards program, the Center for Digital Government* recognized Alameda County as its first-place winner for the largest population category.
It was one of seven California counties recognized in the awards.
The county, a regular Digital Counties leader, put its tech workers on the front line last fall to make sure elections — including recalls of the district attorney and Oakland mayor, and the implementation of youth voting for school board seats — remained honest and safe. The county’s Information Technology Department (ITD) set up port security devices to guard the election network and increased its cybersecurity defenses to combat deepfakes and the spread of misinformation. That included round-the-clock monitoring of social media and the quick deployment of credible information to fight off lies. The focus on cybersecurity extended to a multi-agency “tabletop exercise” to prepare officials for cyber attacks, social unrest and weather-related events — indeed, high winds and fire danger resulted in the closing of a voting center during the election, requiring the quick deployment of backup systems, a situation that underscores the importance of such preparation.
As all that happened, ITD continued work on replacing the assessor’s 20-year-old mainframe legacy system, a two-year project. And in another modernization effort, ITD held an “AI Hackathon” that involved 120 employees from 19 agencies. The event produced nine solutions, and the winning AI app was put into development.
As the county’s tech workforce faced big changes common to other agencies — mainly, the retirement of senior engineers and the assistant CIO — ITD embarked upon succession planning, showing that technology is not just about infrastructure and software but dedicated professionals and expertise. Leadership training and mentorship programs promise to help Alameda County keep its edge in government technology.
Accessibility also stands as a priority for ITD. The county, in collaboration with Siteimprove, has launched a multiphase project to build and maintain accessible websites for people with disabilities. The first phase made the county’s property tax payment portal fully accessible, with more work to come.
*The Center for Digital Government is a sister organization to Industry Insider — California. Both are part of e.Republic.
Digital Counties 2025: Alameda County Takes Top Honors
The Bay Area county was chosen as the first-place winner for the largest population category in this year's Digital Counties awards program. The county made particular advances in cybersecurity and modernization.
