States Prepare for Surge in Absentee Ballots in 2020 General Election
Experts Predict an Even Greater Surge in Absentee Ballots this Fall
The pandemic quickly created massive, unprecedented challenges for state and county election officials just months ahead of the 2020 General Election. The public health crisis rapidly accelerated the move toward remote voting out of public health safety concerns. Recent primary elections demonstrated just how much, with some states seeing absentee ballot requests increase tenfold. With the virus showing no signs of slowing down, experts predict an even greater surge in absentee ballots this fall.
This has prompted concerns about voting systems being overwhelmed by the volume of absentee ballots, which could also mean delays in ballot tallies that have been shown to erode public confidence in the results.
Election officials across the U.S. quickly sprung into action to meet the challenge head-on, and Civix, formerly PCC Technology, has been right there alongside them. The leading election management software and service provider rapidly restructured its multidisciplinary team of some 100 subject matter experts into an Elections Operations Center. At the same time, the company moved at lightning speed to develop a new Online Absentee Ballot solution to meet the needs of the day. It allows voters to easily register for an absentee ballot online and to track the request’s status, increasing transparency and voter confidence and reducing Election Office call volume.
“Our nation’s election officials were faced with a crisis: how to hold safe and secure elections during a pandemic with little time to prepare. But they weren’t alone. We fundamentally changed how we operate to help them fulfill their critical mission ahead of Election Day,” said Mike Wons, the president of Civix Government. “For our team, this is a calling and a commitment to ensure that our clients succeed and that the cornerstone of our democracy prevails.”
The new mobile-responsive Online Absentee Ballot solution has already played a role in smooth elections in Indiana and Georgia; and other states are looking to integrate it into their election management systems ahead of the General Election.
“The beauty of our Absentee Ballot solution is that it easily interfaces with any back-office election system, including those built in-house,” said Wons. “So, states and counties can quickly go live and rest assured that they’re well positioned ahead of November 3rd.”
The solution is highly configurable. For voters, simple, attractive ADA compliant screens provide an intuitive public voter interface. For agency users, configurability is simple through customizable page fields.