U.S. Digital Response Announces Collaborative for Election Offices to Share Resources and Technology

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - July 20, 2023 U.S. Digital Response (USDR) today announced the launch of the Election Software Collaborative, a new partnership created to help election offices access low-cost, secure, and user-friendly software that relieves administrative burden. Through the Collaborative, election offices will also gain access to a community of election offices across the country to share and learn best practices.

A central offering of the Collaborative is the Election Administration Platform, which simplifies critical tasks like election worker management, tracking campaign finance records, organizing candidate information, running an election help desk, and monitoring voting wait times. The Platform is built using established digital tools like Airtable, Twilio, and SendGrid. It gives election offices more customization over features and control over managing data at a sustainable and affordable rate. New features and products are built continuously based on Collaborative member requests, and new members can be onboarded to the Platform in a matter of weeks.

“I was in search of a poll worker management program for many years, but all of the products I reviewed were ‘one size fits all’ databases - making it very difficult to customize to both Arizona and Mohave County needs,” Allen P. Tempert, Elections Director of Mohave County, Arizona. “Fortunately, I learned about U.S. Digital Response. I was told that a platform would be customized to meet Mohave County's needs using the newest technology available, and the product would remain customizable for as long as I chose to use it. Wow! Flexibility at its best. That’s the advantage of working with a collaborative such as USDR, where they draw from experts from all over the country to bring each customer a personalized product and experience. I’m extremely pleased that I joined the USDR collaborative.”

Since 2020, USDR has partnered with more than 50 local and state election offices to build software to make voting accessible and efficient. As a partner that works side-by-side with election officials, they have learned about the unprecedented challenges facing election officials today, from record-high turnouts, implementing new voting methods, to addressing security risks - all in an environment of unstable funding.

“The mission of the Election Software Collaborative is to ensure every election office across the country has modern tools available to run efficient and trustworthy elections,” said Hillary Hartley, Chief Executive Officer of USDR. “We are honored to be a trusted partner helping election officials spend less time on repetitive tasks, enabling them to make progress on critical priorities.” 

Now in its third year, USDR launched with a vision to assist local and state governments in responding rapidly to the critical needs of the public. Since its inception, USDR has partnered with more than 400 organizations to help deliver technical solutions for our country’s most pressing problems. USDR’s projects with partners span from country-wide solutions to community-specific needs.

Dozens of election offices across the country have contributed to the creation, and use, of the system since 2020. Leading up to the official launch of the Collaborative, a diverse group of election offices, including Mohave County, AZ, Chaffee County, CO, Delaware County, PA, and Erie County, PA, have already joined the collaborative. Election offices interested in the Election Software Collaborative and Election Administration Platform can visit https://usdr.link/request-help to request more information or a demo. Membership in the Collaborative starts at $2,500 per year, with higher fees for larger jurisdictions. 

‍About U.S. Digital Response‍

U.S. Digital Response is a nonpartisan nonprofit that helps governments and organizations respond quickly and efficiently to support the critical needs of the public. Founded in 2020, USDR connects governments with technology, resources, and support, leaving them better equipped to deliver services and support to millions of people nationwide. To date, USDR has built a dedicated community of over 8,000 volunteers driven to serve in a time of need and has partnered with over 400 government and nonprofit partners on more than 400 projects.

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Photo by Ernie Journeys on Unsplash