A nonpartisan organization committed to protecting democracy is bringing together election officials along with design and tech experts from across the country supporting local election departments. The U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence is kicking off its five-year, $80 million program naming its 2023 cohort of 10 Centers for Election Excellence. Ottawa County is one of them.
“We are basically in a collaborative effort to think outside of the box for ways that we can improve election administration, for ways that we can better communicate with our voters. Ways of making the election process more secure.”
Justin Roebuck is Ottawa County Clerk/Register of Deeds. He explains with voters’ passage of Proposal 2, a state constitutional amendment adding new voting provisions, the alliance and its collaborative approach sharing best practices will be advantageous.
Cohorts will have access to technology and communications companies along with researchers. Roebuck says the goal is to take election administration, what he describes as an underfunded critical infrastructure - to the next level by improving processes.
“We want to revamp our website and the way that we communicate with our voters through the website and making it very clear and concise.”
The overarching goal; improving election integrity. Roebuck plans to share what is learned with colleagues from across the state.