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EAC National Clearinghouse Awards Information

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

A voter's hand drops a bright red ballot into a box. The voter's hand is navy blue while the ballot box is sky blue. The text "Clearinghouse Awards" is next to the ballot box also in sky blue.

The submission period for the 2024 Clearinghouse Awards is now open! Don’t miss out on having your jurisdiction’s hard work during the 2024 election season be awarded and celebrated.  

Submit your entries here! 

The deadline to submit entries is Friday, February 14, at 11:59pm ET. 

 

Each year, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) invites submissions for its national Clearinghouse Awards, or Clearies for short. Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), the EAC is charged with serving as a clearinghouse for election administration information. By celebrating innovative efforts from state and local election offices, the Clearies helps the EAC to fulfill this important mission.  

 

The Clearies are awarded in eight categories:  

Accessibility: Best Practices for Improving Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities 

  • Initiatives that help further voting access for people with disabilities while upholding the provisions of HAVA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This may also include general language access needs and other accessibility-related solutions. 

HAVA Grants: Outstanding Use of HAVA Grants in Elections Modernization 

  • Programs that successfully leverage HAVA grant funding to improve election administration. This could include any programs using HAVA grants to address critical physical and cybersecurity needs, improve accessibility, or disseminate trusted information. 

Communications: Distinguished Voter Education and Communications Initiatives 

  • Programs that improve voter education and communications activities. This may be through direct outreach to voters, promotion of trusted information and efforts to counter artificial intelligence, collaborations with local media, partnerships with local schools or other educational organizations, improvements in the design of voter-facing printed materials, and other programs that strengthen or improve public familiarity with voting procedures. 

(NEW!) Contingency Planning: Exemplary Contingency Planning and Emergency Response Efforts  

  • This new category highlights programs that focus on best practices for contingency planning and emergency preparedness. In addition, in the face of an emergency, initiatives or actions that demonstrated effective collaboration with emergency management and law enforcement entities. 

Poll Workers: Best Practices in Recruiting, Retaining, and Training Poll Workers  

  • Programs that enhance the recruitment, training, and retention of vital election workers. It includes initiatives using creative and innovative techniques for training poll workers, along with attracting outside partnerships.  

Security: Innovation and New Tools in Election Security and Technology 

  • Security-focused initiatives that safeguard voting systems and strengthen U.S. elections. This may include proven solutions for physical and cybersecurity programs that improve the security posture of an elections office, including the security of physical systems, online systems, and elections staff. 

Election Administration: Innovations or New Practices in Election Administration 

  • Programs that use creative tools to improve election administration, while advancing new and innovative concepts. This can include list maintenance tools and efforts, along with other ways to enhance the accuracy and integrity of the voting process.  

“I Voted” Stickers: Creative and Original “I Voted” Stickers 

  • “I Voted” stickers that exemplify voter education, outreach, and community flair. 

 

Submissions are judged on: 

  • Innovation: The submission presents a new and original idea. 

  • Cost-effectiveness: The submitted program produces positive results while exercising disciplined spending parameters. 

  • Replicability: The submission can be reproduced by other election officials and will achieve similar results. With modification, the program can be altered to address changing circumstances or the needs of other jurisdictions. 

  • Sustainability: The submitted program will provide long-term benefits, can be maintained at its current level, and can be expanded as the need arises.  

  • Meets Category Requirements: The submitted program is well-suited to the category in which it was entered.  

  • Improves Outcomes for Voters and Election Officials: The submitted program attains successful outcomes for elections and voters. Program outcomes are quantifiable and measurable. 

 

Contest Rules: 

  1. Only state and local government jurisdictions are eligible to be recognized. 

  1. Programs must have been active, implemented, or developed during the previous federal (two-year) election cycle. 

  1. Entries must include a fully completed entry form and conform to application requirements. 

  1. Entrants agree to allow winning submissions to be recognized by the EAC and featured in EAC press releases and events. 

  1. Programs may be disqualified for conflicts of interest or at the discretion of the EAC. 

  1. If a jurisdiction’s entry is currently part of any legal proceedings or in litigation, the program will not qualify for consideration. If a jurisdiction’s entry becomes part of any legal proceedings or in litigation, the jurisdiction must notify the EAC and Clearies program. 

  1. Winning programs may not be re-entered in subsequent competition years. Honorable mentions or non-awarded programs may be resubmitted in subsequent competitions if still active. 

  1. A single jurisdiction can receive no more than two awards in a given year. Jurisdictions are welcome to submit as many programs as they wish but may only receive awards for their top two submissions as scored by judges. The additional entries will be eligible for honorable mention recognition. 

  1. Jurisdictions may not receive awards in the same Clearies category in consecutive years.   

  1. Prior to submitting a nomination, the individual submitting the entry must attest that they have read and agreed to the above rules and supporting guidance, as noted with a checkbox on the EAC’s submission portal.  

  

Additional Guidelines: 

  • Elections offices may nominate their own programs, nominate other programs, or be nominated by external organizations or the public. 

  • Programs should improve an office's ability to administer elections and conform to contest category descriptions as closely as possible. 

  • In accordance with program objectives, all submissions will be posted to the EAC’s website.   

  • Each category will be judged separately, with up to four (4) winners per category, plus Honorable Mentions. 

  • All entries will be judged by a panel of current or former election officials, comprised of EAC’s FACA Board members. 

 

The full text of the survey questions can be found here. (Please note that this document is for informational purposes only. Only entries that are submitted through the online form will be considered for this year's competition.)

 

 If you have questions, please email [email protected].

 

View all previous year's winners!

2023 Clearinghouse Award Winners

2022 Clearinghouse Award Winners

2021 Clearinghouse Award Winners

2020 Clearinghouse Award Winners

2019 Clearinghouse Award Winners

2018 Clearinghouse Award Winners

2017 Clearinghouse Award Winners

2016 Clearinghouse Award Winners

A voter's hand drops a bright red ballot into a box that reads "Clearinghouse Awards." The voter's hand is navy blue while the ballot box is sky blue with a separate grey background behind the word "Awards."