Get 'Em While They're Young: How to Train a New Generation of Tech-Savvy Election Administrators
[Image courtesy of hvsepc.org]
I’m in Santa Fe today for the annual meeting of the Election Verification Network (EVN), which describes itself as “a national network of experts, election officials, and advocates improving U.S. elections by making sure each ballot is counted accurately for fair results the public can verify.”
In particular, I’m here to moderate a panel on how to train the next generation of election administrators in the technology and information security skills they’ll need to manage our ever-evolving election process in the U.S.
The panelists are:
- + Tammy Patrick, Maricopa County Arizona
- + Robert Adams, Bernalillo County, New Mexico and
- + Joseph Lorenzo Hall, New York University
I’m looking forward to the panel; as I’ve noted on numerous occasions elsewhere, a thorough understanding of technology – when to use it, how to make it work for voters, how to protect it from threats and (most importantly) how to fix it when things go wrong – will have to be a core competency for election officials going forward.
The goal is to take the presentations and the results of Q&A and use them as a base for identifying training opportunities for new and experienced election officials. I’ll be sure to share the results here as well.