Elections Office recognized for excellence in election administration with national Clearinghouse Award

The Douglas County Clerk’s Elections Office is being recognized today for excellence in election administration with a national Clearinghouse Award for “Outstanding Innovations in Elections – Small/Medium Jurisdictions.” Also, known as the “Clearies,” the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) presents the awards program annually to celebrate the hard work of election offices across the country. Now in its seventh year, this year’s Clearie Awards honors programs that took place during the 2022 midterms. 

The County Clerk's Elections Office was one of 24 programs that were recognized with a Clearie Award. The innovative program recognized uses radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to build an asset tracking system which improves security, chain-of-custody logs, and accountability for election supplies and equipment. The Clerk's office has been working on this new system since 2019, with full deployment in 2022.

"We appreciate the EAC recognizing this program,” Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said. “I am thankful for all of the work from our staff and partners to build a system that not only improves our operations but shows that even smaller counties can be national leaders in innovation. A program like this helps build trust in our election system and shows our community that we are committed to securing the elections process in Douglas County." 

The Clearies play an essential role in fulfilling the EAC’s mission to serve as a clearinghouse for election administration information under the Help America Vote Act. The EAC is an independent, bipartisan federal agency solely focused on election administration. Submissions were judged on innovation, sustainability, outreach, cost-effectiveness, replicability, and the generation of positive results. This year’s awards categories include:

• Outstanding Use of HAVA Grants in Elections Modernization 
• Outstanding Election Official State Association Program or Local Office 
• Outstanding Innovation in Election Cybersecurity and Technology 
• Improving Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities 
• Outstanding Innovations in Elections – Large Jurisdictions 
• Outstanding Innovations in Elections – Small/Medium Jurisdictions 
• Best Practices in Recruiting, Retaining, and Training Poll Workers 
• Creative and Original “I Voted” Stickers 

“The spotlight on U.S. elections has never been brighter, and the EAC is pleased to honor the work of these offices to make elections more secure, technologically advanced, and accessible to voters,” said EAC Chairwoman Christy McCormick, Vice Chair Ben Hovland, Commissioner Donald Palmer, and Commissioner Thomas Hicks in a joint statement. “Especially as election administrators prepare for the 2024 presidential election, we encourage them to review the great work of these Clearie Award-winning jurisdictions for ideas they may want to replicate in their communities.” 

More information on the Clearies and each awardee is available on eac.gov.

For information about the Douglas County Elections Office, visit: douglascountyelections.com.