Awards to local governments for outstanding professional practices in election administration were announced on August 18, 2011, by the National Association of Election Officials – The Election Center of Houston, Texas. The awards were presented at the national conference of The Election Center in San Antonio, TX, according to Dawn Williams, chair of the Election Center’s Professional Practices Committee.

 “Our local division winners for 2011 have incredibly good ideas that can be utilized by others around the nation,” Williams said as she named the local division winners which include:

• Democracy Award for Best Practice of 2011 was awarded to Martin County, FL for its “Check Your Voter Status” program.
• Freedom Award for Innovation was presented to Salt Lake County, UT for its program titled “Planning for Success: Project Planning”.
• Eagles Award for outstanding use of technology was presented to Citrus County FL for its program called “Early Voting Ballot Tracking System”.
• Minute Man Award for a practice that is quick or inexpensive to implement was given to the District of Columbia Board of Elections, for its program called “Tweeting the Vote: Engaging the Media and Community Leaders 140 Characters at a Time”.
• Stars and Stripes Award to recognize outstanding community partnerships was awarded to Allen County, IN for its program named “Mapping the Ballot ”.
• Guardian Award to recognize a practice that exemplifies the Election Center’s code of ethics for the elections profession was awarded to Butte County, CA for its program called “Vote by Mail, Making Every Vote Count”.

Presentations by each of the winners to describe their program were given at the conference to more than 275 voter registration and election administration professionals while they were at the national conference in Orlando on August 18 and 19 in two days of professional sessions designed to improve election administration in America.

“We started the professional practices program in 1995 to be sure we recognize those election administration offices around America who are finding better ways to make democracy work in their communities,” said Doug Lewis, Executive Director of the Houston based Election Center.

“What we discovered is that there are wonderfully creative ways to make democracy work better for citizens and by showcasing the best ideas around the nation, other communities can take best ideas and shape them for voters of all parts of America,” Lewis continued.   “As local officials adapt professional practices they see at the national conference, they create new versions of those ideas to fit their own local election jurisdictions.”

“We are told by our members this is one of the favorite sessions of each annual conference,” Williams commented.   “Local and state election officials become enthused about ideas and programs which they can bring home to benefit the voters. Usually these are very cost effective and inventive programs which can benefit the citizens of both large and small governments throughout the nation.”

The National Association of Election Officials – The Election Center is a national non-partisan non-profit organization of the nation’s voter registration and election administrators who are responsible for organizing and conducting the federal, state and local elections for the United States.