Nebraska Wins National Award for Election Innovation

Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen has been named the recipient of the inaugural Innovators Award presented by the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED).

The award was a result of a collaboration between the Secretary of State’s office,  Nebraska’s voter registration database vendor Election Systems and Software (ES&S) and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), which is the entity contracted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide cybersecurity resources for elections.

Secretary Evnen stated, “The award marks achievements for innovation in election security highlighting technologies, partnerships and practices. This collaboration resulted in the first Albert sensor having been being placed in the voter registration environment at a private elections vendor.”

An Albert sensor is an intrusion detection device that will detect suspicious activity in Nebraska’s voter registration system and will alert the Secretary of State’s office to real-time threats to the voter registration system. The Albert sensor is federally funded and supported through the Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS). To date, Nebraska’s approach to this technology has been replicated in four states and territories that use the same voter registration system.

The award was presented to Deputy Secretary Wayne Bena on behalf of Secretary Evnen during the summer NASED conference.

Secretary Evnen said, “This award shows our commitment and the commitment of our partners to lead in election security for 2020 and beyond in Nebraska.”

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