Blogs

Celebrating Your Election Day Successes

The November 30 deadline to enter the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) 2018 Clearinghouse competition is right around the corner. We want to hear from you about the initiatives that produced positive results during this election season. It’s easy to enter and a great way to celebrate your office’s successes.

Also known as the “Clearies,” the EAC’s election administration awards celebrate best practices in election administration across America. While most of you and your hard-working elections office colleagues are currently wrapping up Election Day efforts and recovering from the 2018 midterms, as you reflect on your work, we hope you’ll consider entering this year’s competition so that we can honor your recent efforts and promote your accomplishments.

During the time around the 2018 elections, EAC Commissioners and staff visited more than 12 states and elections offices to observe and learn. As we traveled the country and met with state and local election officials from coast-to-coast, we witnessed first-hand countless fresh and innovative election initiatives. It is these types of efforts, both small and large, that exemplify the spirit of the Clearies. We want to hear about all of them, and those tips that produced results along the way.

There are three categories for this year’s competition: 1) innovations in elections, 2) best practices related to the recruiting, training, and retaining of election workers, and 3) accessibility for voters with disabilities.

Best practice entries for the competitions will be judged on the following criteria:

• Efficacy
• Innovation
• Sustainability
• Outreach efforts
• Cost-effectiveness
• Replicability

In your email submissions to clearinghouse@eac.gov, please provide a brief summary of your program and attach any relevant documents, pictures, and links that support the submission. In the subject line, applicants should state which particular category they are entering. If candidates have submissions for more than one category, please email them separately.

We purposely keep the Clearies entry process simple and straightforward. Applications from all perspectives and types of jurisdictions are encouraged to submit their work. And since we recognize that this is a very busy time of year, submissions can be as simple as a half-page narrative or as complex as a series of documents and multimedia.

The EAC is committed to highlighting the hard work, determination, and “can do” spirit that election officials bring to Election Day tasks. To make this year’s competition even more meaningful, the EAC has dedicated the 2018 Clearies in memory of the life and legacy of Wendy Noren and R. Brian Lewis. To read more about these leaders and their great contributions to the elections community, click here.

If you have questions about the awards, please email the EAC’s Patrick Leahy at pleahy@eac.gov. We look forward to receiving your entries for the 2018 Clearinghouse Awards.