2023 - Winner for Outstanding Innovations in Election Cybersecurity and Technology

The County Clerks Office created and produced an ePoll Book Encoder Stabilizer Bracket to respond to a known election administration need. With KNOWiNK ePoll Books, an encoder is used to pre-program a vote card to pull up the correct ballot for a voter. The connection point of the encoder was not stable, causing encoding errors and diminishing the public confidence in our elections. Weaknesses identified included both the connection point of the encoder into the ePoll book, as well as the power connection to the encoder itself. The stabilizer bracket eliminated the connectivity issues and encoding errors. An Indiana company, Shelton Specialties, LLC, was created to produce, market, and sell the brackets, initially in Indiana. The Shelton Specialties Encoder Stabilizer Bracket is patent pending. The Stabilizer Bracket was used in two Indiana counties in 2023 and has been utilized by 15 counties across the state.