Power outages, cyber threats, protests, bad weather, and other events at polling stations could potentially disrupt the ability of citizens to safely participate in the Nov. 5th general election.
Under leadership provided by the Secretary of State’s office, local, state, and federal agencies have teamed up to support the response of potential disrupting incidents.
We are proud that multiple ITS teams have been participating in those efforts. Lessons learned during the primary election earlier this year are now being implemented to get ready for November.
Members of our CISO team will help connect the Election Security team to other ITS teams whose expertise is needed to help respond to a disruption or emergency. They will also help coordinate responses to potential cyber-attacks.
The Data and Spatial Services (DASS) team will provide the common operating picture displaying any new and active disrupting incidents at nearly 800 of Idaho’s polling stations. The tools provided by the DASS team were up and running during the primary election and are currently being fine-tuned for use during the general election.
“The ITS DASS team has been a valuable partner in an elections security dashboard to display potential disruption events during our elections. DASS’ efforts to integrate live external data feeds into the dashboard and rapidly customize event types and categories will help provide shared situational awareness for all partners during the election.”
–Cody McRoberts, Chief Information Officer, Idaho Secretary of State’s Office
To provide the common operation picture, the DASS team built a large dashboard displaying the location, type, and status of each incident. Tools inside the dashboard allow users to add new incidents, assign tasks to others, and update information in real time. Additional live data displaying power outages, road conditions, and weather events provide further context to the statewide operational picture.
Dashboard displays a map of Idaho with the active incidents identified. Power outage reports (blue dots with white numbers) and weather warning events are shown in the map for additional context.
Polling stations appear when the user zooms into the map. Clicking on a polling station (white circles) brings up a pop-up with basic information. The blue link on the pop-up opens up a form (shown on top) where new incidents can be reported.
