The National Vote at Home InstituteThe National Vote at Home InstituteThe National Vote at Home InstituteThe National Vote at Home Institute
  • Home
  • About Us
    • States & Jurisdictions
    • Staff & Jobs
    • Our Expertise
    • Board & Circle of Advisors
    • Our Partners
    • FAQ
    • When Women Vote – Election Reform as a roadmap to equality.
  • Election Official Info
    • Communications Toolkit
    • Operational Toolkit
  • Voter Center
  • Research
    • Turnout
    • Security
    • Equity
    • Cost
    • State Info
    • Ballot Return Tool – Center for Inclusive Democracy
    • U.S. Elections Project Data
  • The Road Forward in 2021
  • Media Center
  • Donate

Elections Officials Operational Toolkit

Administering voting by mail alongside in-person voting locations requires significant planning and resources. This Elections Official Operational Toolkit contains two tools that can help election officials consider staffing, space, and other resource needs to best serve voters.

Vote-By-Mail Calculator

The Vote-By-Mail Calculator is a user-friendly Excel spreadsheet inspired by the polling place resource planning tools built by Aaron Strauss, Mark Pelczarski, Stephen Graves, and Rong Yuan. Like those tools, it allows election officials to input data and simulate multiple scenarios to improve resource allocation. This tool was created by Katy Peters, prepared with funding and support from the Democracy Fund, and it is administered by NVAHI.

The Calculator

This calculator is designed to estimate the number of voters who choose mail ballots under a variety of scenarios, and use that information to model the likely costs and resource needs associated with supporting those mail voters.

Download

The User Guide

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, from red, blue and purple states, recognize vote at home is a common-sense policy. It’s a cost-efficient way to secure elections and increase the public’s confidence in government and the election process.

Download

Instructional Videos

This instructional video can be paired with the user guide and offers a dynamic walkthrough for each of the calculator aspects. *Note: The videos show Google Sheets but the Calculator is in Excel. The functionality is identical.

Download

The Estimator

This tool estimates staffing levels for processing voted mail ballots—in just minutes. For jurisdictions that need quick estimates, the Estimator streamlines the full Vote by Mail Calculator by using benchmarks from our experience supporting election officials.

Download

Polling Place Planner

The Polling Place Planner consists of a web app and an accompanying workbook. This tool enables elections officials to estimate wait times at polling places and assess equipment and staffing needs, including COVID-19 precautions such as cleaning and PPE. These tools were created by Mark Pelczarski with support from the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, Center for Technology and Civic Life, and Leadership Now; they are administered by Mark Pelczarski and NVAHI, respectively.

The Polling Place Planner

This web application simulates polling place wait times based on varying resource constraints and estimated in-person voters for both Early Voting and on Election Day.

Download

The Workbook

Use this template to input precinct-level data into the planner tool and further explore your poll worker and supply needs.

Download

  • Voter Center
  • Research Center
  • Election Official Info
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Notice
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • Contact

NATIONAL VOTE AT HOME INSTITUTE

Donate Today

Vote At HomeFollow

Vote At Home
voteathomeVote At Home@voteathome·
1h

The 2020 election was successful in boosting turnout, expanding #VoteAtHome options, and increasing ... efficiency🙌 What now? We've outlined the road forward to guide us towards making elections even safer and more secure in 2021.🤝 https://voteathome.org/the_road_forward/

Reply on Twitter 1352722189657628672Retweet on Twitter 1352722189657628672Like on Twitter 1352722189657628672Twitter 1352722189657628672
  • Home
  • About Us
    • States & Jurisdictions
    • Staff & Jobs
    • Our Expertise
    • Board & Circle of Advisors
    • Our Partners
    • FAQ
    • WHEN WOMEN VOTE – Election Reform as a roadmap to equality.
  • Election Official Info
    • Communications Toolkit
    • Operational Toolkit
  • Voter Center
  • Research
    • Turnout
    • Security
    • Equity
    • Cost
    • State Info
  • Media Center
  • News
  • Contact
  • Donate
The National Vote at Home Institute