Elections offices around the country have come a long way recently, in terms of verifying and auditing voter locations. This was evident throughout all the panels and presentations during this year’s Elections GeoSummit, held virtually on December 8.
Montana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont reported on the specific steps they had taken and on progress made towards geo-enabling their elections. They, along with a remarkable 86% of all U.S. states and territories have participated in the Geo-Enabled Elections project in one form or another over its duration, 2017-2022.
Another common theme from the Summit was states working to procure new voter registration systems (VRS) that are capable of integrating geospatial information, like voter and candidate locations and voter district boundaries. Running only one system saves time, reduces errors, enables audits – and makes redistricting substantially easier. In the recent State Election Director Report, 89% of states reported that they expect full VRS and GIS integration by 2027, while only 39% of states surveyed had that capability today.
A few sample requests-for-proposal for a VRS capable of handling GIS information are available here.
The recordings from the Elections GeoSummit can be accessed here, under “Event Recordings.”