Supported in part by 2018 Help America Vote Act funds distributed by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), election officials across the country are taking additional steps to strengthen and upgrade their voter registration databases and election management systems. These systems are used to implement core election administration functions, such as updating and maintaining the accuracy of voter registration rolls, assigning voters to their correct polling locations and voting districts, generating appropriate ballots for voters, and the secure tabulation or reporting of results. . First and foremost, election officials are working to modernize and upgrade these systems in light of heightened cybersecurity concerns.
States are also looking to enhance functionality in these voter registration systems, for example, to improve inter- and intra-state sharing of registration data, strengthen interoperability between systems, integrate geospatial data, and support modernization efforts like online voter registration.
These statewide voter registration databases and election management systems serve as the backbone of the nation’s data architecture for elections. So when you hear the buzzword “election infrastructure”, these are the core systems we are talking about. From responding to information requests from voters and journalists to monitoring for anomalous and potentially malicious activity, election officials rely on these systems every day for data management and analysis. We at the EAC also know that states often rely on these systems to prepare their responses to the biennial Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) and inform us how to improve our processes by looking at the past federal election
These topics and more will be discussed during the fourth panel at the EAC’s 2019 Election Data Summit on Thursday, June 27. I am pleased to announce the panelists for this session:
- John Dziurlaj, Elections Consultant, Hilton Roscoe, LLC
- Ericka Haas, Systems Engineer and Technical Liaison, Electronic Registration Information Center
- Daniel Ross, Chief Geographic Information Officer, Minnesota; President, National States Geographic Information Center (NSGIC)
The 2019 Election Data Summit is free and open to the public and media. We hope you will join us for this important discussion. Attendees are strongly encouraged to register in advance, as space is limited. Additional information on summit panels will be released in the coming days on this blog.
