NSGIC kicked-off its Geo-Enabled Elections Webinar Series on June 16, with the topic Adapting Election Strategies to the Post-COVID-19 World. The webinar, presented by Esri in partnership with NSGIC, NACo, and NCSL, highlighted strategies and tools for adapting election processes in the time of COVID-19. A recording of the webinar can be found here.
To be notified about future webinars in the series, sign up to follow the Geo-Enabled Elections project here.
The June 16 webinar opened with a brief discussion of the top-of-mind policy issues jurisdictions face. Next, a local government case study was presented, followed by examples highlighting how jurisdictions leverage GIS technology for operational efficiency while ensuring the health and safety of the voter.
Some key benefits of shifting the focus to “where” were presented, and alternative polling approaches were discussed, including:
- Consolidating voting centers and taking into consideration at-risk populations,
- Monitoring wait times and managing poll workers,
- Optimizing ballot drop-off and polling place locations while also considering drive-through voting, and
- Keeping the public informed about election day operations and election day results.
For thought-leading insights on how to geo-enable elections, the free Best Practices Guidance, Improving America’s Elections with GIS, is available for download here.