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Georgia has been recognized by a federal election commission for its use of enhanced security measures and innovations during last year’s presidential election.
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission cited the Georgia Secretary of State office’s use of line-monitoring technology to track wait times at polling places during early-voting and to address technical problems that arose on Election Day in real time. Donald Palmer, the new USEAC chairman and an appointee of former Pres. Donald Trump, recognized Secretary Brad Raffensperger’s decision to use ESRI’s ArcGIS technology during the election.
Launched last year, the Election Assistant App enabled the Secretary of State’s office to communicate quickly and effectively with polling places around the state. The Performance Dashboard, also launched last year, provided real-time data on wait times
The Georgia Secretary of State’s office was awarded the commission’s Outstanding Innovations in Elections for large jurisdictions.
“Thanks to the ESRI line monitoring tool we were finally able to beat long lines on Election Day in Georgia, averaging just three minutes across the state in November and just one minute in January,’ Secretary Brad Raffensperger said in a written statement Friday. “The rapid issue reporting system helped us ensure a secure and reliable vote.”
The award comes in the wake of unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud made by former President Donald Trump earlier this year. In addition to the accusations, Trump tried unsuccessfully to pressure Raffensperger to change the outcome of the presidential election by “finding” more than 11,000 pro-Trump votes.
Other Georgia counties followed the state’s lead using technology during the election. They created their own public dashboards so voters could see wait times at early voting spots online before heading to the polls. It also directed them to locations with the shortest lines, alleviated pressure in the more heavily-used polling places.
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