EAC hosts the national clearinghouse on elections, including voting system reports and data from state and local governments. Voters, election officials and EAC’s test labs rely on this information. Access to these reports and data is critical for EAC’s test labs, allowing them to focus testing on specific areas and address known problems voters and election officials experienced in the field. It also helps detect and prevent problems with voting systems being tested, all of which reduces the time and cost of certifying, fielding, and monitoring voting equipment. Sharing this knowledge and experience also informs other jurisdictions with similar voting equipment of problems and potential workarounds.
It’s been a while since we’ve gotten new reports! So please, any local, state or federal government official who has information about their experience operating a voting system, share it with us and the entire community! We would appreciate it, and so would election officials throughout the nation. Just send the report and a request that we post it in the clearinghouse to HAVAinfo@eac.gov. We’ll take care of the rest.
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Election officials increasingly see value in recruiting college students to serve as poll workers, particularly for their flexible schedules and experience using technology. EAC supports student poll worker recruitment through the HAVA College Program grant, and we recently asked our recipients for tips on setting up and managing a student recruitment program. Here’s what they said:
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Build a relationship with a political science or public administration professor at a local community or state college. They are likely to have the contacts and interest needed to make the program successful.
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Offer to bring voting machines into the classroom to give students a better understanding of how elections work. This makes the training process more interesting and interactive.
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Partner with marketing professors to develop a marketing campaign aimed at students.
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Hold poll worker trainings on campus or online so more students can easily attend the training.
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Make sure all partners are aware of the laws that govern the service of poll workers, such as age, voter registration, and party affiliation requirements.
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If local laws permit, consider allowing students to volunteer for part of the day, rather than the full Election Day. More students will be able to volunteer this way.
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Spread the number of student volunteers throughout polling places so they can benefit from the expertise of more seasoned poll workers.
These are just a few ideas to consider when running a college poll worker recruitment program. To learn more about the work of EAC College Program grantees, go here.
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Election officials in Orange County, Florida used Second Life to train students to serve as poll workers, preserving quality while saving resources in the process. The program was funded by an EAC College Poll Worker grant.
Orange County developed a virtual space in Second Life, an interactive online world, which takes students through a virtual polling place with registration tables, poll books, voting booths, voting machines and other materials often used in polling places.
Through Second Life and Orange County’s partnership with the University of Central Florida and Valencia Community College, students learned to check-in voters as well as about the different types of ballots used through traditional training materials such as PowerPoint presentations.
Second Life is a unique training tool that addresses several unique challenges. For example, scheduling in-person poll worker training can be tough. And typical online trainings didn’t provide first-time poll workers with a realistic sense of the layout and flow of a polling place. Orange County found that combining the virtual experience of polling place activities with traditional training materials was a good solution.
Central Florida ended up training approximately 450 student poll workers, with about 60 of those through Second Life. They plan to follow up and see how the skills students gained differed depending on the type of training method used.
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Shortly after the 2010 election, EAC hosted a discussion with election officials and voting system manufacturers. All agreed that the election was a success, but that challenges remain. Below are some highlights from the roundtable.
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Election administration procedures vary widely, particularly among small jurisdictions; however, federal standards and guidance are helping to address this issue.
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Voting system maintenance will become a more important issue as deployed systems near the end of their lifecycles. What is a reasonable expectation of a voting system’s life cycle? Can this be tested?
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How will ongoing state and local budget cuts affect the financing of voting system technology and maintenance?
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How can election officials safely incorporate commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products into their voting system?
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What benefits do testing and certification bring to the life cycle and maintainability of voting systems?
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Sharing accurate and thorough information about voting system malfunctions is central to ensuring optimal long-term system performance.
If you’re interested in learning more, view the webcast of the roundtable.
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Hello and welcome to EAC’s blog. This blog is dedicated to sharing useful, innovative and practical information about voting and elections. Our goal is to provide another resource for election officials and voters to get the information they need.
Since the presidential election of 2000, the way we vote has changed dramatically. Thanks to the Help America Vote Act of 2002, technology has had a tremendous impact on elections. Every aspect of the voting process has changed from how we register, to the equipment we vote on, to how election results are communicated. People with disabilities are now voting privately and independently. Provisional or fail safe voting is available throughout the nation.
This blog is for voters. Perhaps the biggest change we’ve seen in the last decade is heightened public awareness and curiosity about elections. You don’t assume your vote automatically counts; you want to know how it’s counted. You ask questions about voting machines, residency requirements and voting absentee or by mail. EAC will help you get the answers. And don’t forget—EAC provides the national voter registration form which can be used to register to vote or to submit a change of address in almost every state. We certify voting machines that could be used in your polling place, so check back often to get the latest information.
Election officials are continuing to find smart solutions that increase efficiency and accuracy. This blog is also for them. They are doing more with less, using creative methods to improve operations and customer service on behalf of America’s voters. We will showcase their innovations here.
This blog will strengthen EAC’s role as a national clearinghouse for elections and a hub for exchanging practical and results-oriented information on all aspects of election administration, from ensuring our nation’s deployed service members are able to cast a ballot on time to attaining a high level of security, reliability and accessibility of voting systems.
Our new blog does not yet accept comments. We plan to allow that in the near future. Until then, please use our Contact Us web contact form on our Web site.
This blog will be considered a success when an election official comes here to read about an innovative solution that improves the voting process for voters. Or if a voter learns how to register to vote after they have moved. Please let us know what you are interested in learning more about and we will do our best to deliver the answers.
Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to explore the rest of EAC.gov, which was recently named one of the top five government Web sites by Congress.org. We hope to see you here again, and wish you a healthy and happy New Year.
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