Learning from Logistics Experts to Improve Elections Operations

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2014

The Orange County Registrar of Voters has made significant investments in technology and quality control over the last four years in order to increase efficiencies and reduce costs associated with managing elections operations. Applying lessons learned from companies specializing in logistics, including FedEx, UPS, and Southern California Edison, a full complement of automation has been employed to reduce the incidence of human error and the amount of staff time needed to complete complex, time-consuming tasks. The implementation of automation has been extremely successful and a contributing factor to Orange County keeping the overall election cost per voter lower than in other counties, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Contra Costa, and Sacramento counties. In 2010, the Registrar of Voters made significant investments in technology by acquiring ballot extracting devices and implementing a moving conveyor system. The extracting devices ensure operations keep up with the increasing popularity of voting-by-mail. The implementation of a conveyor system revolutionized the process of election supply returns by transforming a task that once took weeks to complete into one requiring only hours. These investments have been vital to moving elections operations beyond decades- old practices that were both costly and inefficient.