Award Recognizes City’s Outstanding Innovations in Elections

City of Rochester Hills Wins National Award for Election Day Innovation

Front entrance to the City of Rochester Hills office building showing a coevered walkway and a sign that reads Main Entrance City of Rochester Hills

City of Rochester Hills

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) today announced that the City of Rochester Hills, Mich. was the recipient of a 2018 “Clearie” Award for Outstanding Innovations in Elections. Rochester Hills received the award for an Election Day Precinct Support Portal. The annual “Clearie” awards recognize best practices in election administration and highlight exemplary models which can serve as examples to other officials and jurisdictions.

“Election officials are some of the greatest civic leaders our nation has to offer,” said EAC Chairman Thomas Hicks. “They are the stewards of the bedrock of our democracy, who often implement innovative solutions with limited budgets and zero margin for error. The annual Clearie awards give the EAC an opportunity to recognize their vital contributions on a national stage and highlight best practices within the field of election administration. Each recipient of this award represents the very best of what it means to be an election administrator. We at the EAC applaud them for their dedication, and hope their work can serve as an example to others.”

The City of Rochester Hills’ Election Day Precinct Support Portal allowed precinct workers to submit requests or questions via a smart phone or tablet using a simple Google Form. Form submissions were fed into a shared Google Sheet in real time that was monitored by phone staff and runners moving between precincts. Support calls were ranked by priority and dropped to the bottom of the Google Sheet once they were resolved. In this way, Rochester Hills was able to provide critical Election Day support across 32 precincts with just three staff. Election Inspectors were able to submit the request with the assurance that someone was responding. The Portal also generated valuable data, including requests per precinct, individual responder rates and a breakdown of the different assigned priority levels.

“We are honored to be recipients of a 2018 “Clearie” Award for Outstanding Innovations in Elections. This innovative solution is the result of collaboration between the Clerk’s Office and our Management Information Systems staff,” states City Clerk Tina Barton. “I must acknowledge and thank the 64 precinct chairs/co-chairs who were willing to partner in implementing this new technology. We will continue to work towards solutions that make the voting experience positive for all voters, as well as the Election Day staff.”

About the U.S. Election Assistance Commission

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). It is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with ensuring secure, accurate and accessible elections by developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration. EAC also accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, as well as administers the use of HAVA funds.

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Rochester Media publishes The Community Edge digital newsletter of recently posted articles from Rochester Media, a hyper-local news outlet covering all things in and around Rochester, Rochester Hills, and Oakland Township. Send us you press releases and news happenings to editor@rochestermedia.com.

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