REACH OUT! The Elections Educator Newsletter 6/18/25
This week: Covering useful news, upcoming webinars, and conferences to look forward to for inspiring and informing your voter outreach work. (Written for elections admins, 501c3s & GOTV volunteers.)
INTRODUCTION
Hello Outreacher’s and Voter Education Enthusiasts! It’s a short newsletter this week. I’ve personally been reading a lot of academic journals for inspiration for a new research project I’m working on in office and daydreaming about one day presenting a paper to an audience. It’s been making me curious about what conferences may be out there where election science might be presented that could inform and improve our election engagement practices! I’d like to share with you the conferences I found as well as a few other timely resources.
I want to give a big thank you to all our readers. Just prior to posting this (our 5th edition) we welcomed out 27th subscriber and 376 page views. All in under a month! I hope you continue to find interesting and inspiring resources as we move forward, together, in getting out the vote to all citizens.
If you haven’t yet, please subscribe! (Heads up: I’m not charging a fee. Please don’t feel pressured by the substack site to pledge an amount if it asks.)
Also, Please continue to share the newsletter with you fellow employees, Linkedin connections, favorite community groups, and civically minded super volunteers!
IN THE NEWS
IN OUTREACH:
Thompkins County, NY, residents currently choosing among top 15 designs for their new ‘Future Voter’ Sticker - By Jimmy Jordan, 6/16/25
IN EDUCATION:
San Luis Obispo County, CA, County Clerk in Partnership with High Schools launches Student Elections Ambassador Program - By Izzy Romero, 6/16/2025
IN ELECTION ADMINISTRATION RECOGNITION:
Greg Kimsey, Auditor of Clark County, WA, awarded ‘Best Auditor of the Year’ and Luba Ross, of Clark County Elections, awarded ‘Rising Star of the Year’ by WA Secretary of State - By Steve McDonagh, 6/17/25
UPCOMING WEBINARS
PLEJ-WEATHERING THE MESSAGE: COMMUNICATING THROUGH THE STORM
Thursday, June, 2–3pm EST
RSVP at https://bit.ly/PLEJ-CWG25
Join PLEJ as a member county or schedule an interest call with them today! (you won’t regret it!)
2025:EAC DATA SUMMIT: ELECTION ADMINISTRATION BY THE NUMBERS
To be livestreamed on the EAC youtube channel Wednesday July 9th from 9am-4:30pm.
Description: During the meeting, election officials, academics, and other key stakeholders will participate in panel discussions on election administration and related innovative and groundbreaking data and research. Topics will include the results of the 2024 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS), election funding, voter list maintenance, workforce development, and more.
UPCOMING CONFERENCES
iGO (INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS) ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Taking place next week, June 20-24th in Kansas City MO.
I’m seeing multiple sessions that align with public outreach/engagement and elections on their educational agenda. If any of you are attending-share your notes with the class(me!) please!
More information about the conference can be found on their website here.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE ELECTION DIRECTORS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Taking place July 22-24 in Oklahoma City, OK.
There is very limited information available about this conference and its expected agenda. Contrastingly, there is a lot of nuance when it comes to registration. Visit the website to learn more.
THE ELECTIONS CENTER ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The conference itself will run August 20-22 in Salt Lake City, UT.
There will also be CERA certification courses offered after, on August 23-24.
The CERA courses offered will be:
Course 5 (Ethics);
Course 6 (Communications & Public Relations);
and Two more renewal courses to be announced.
More information will be posted shortly on Electioncenter.org (preliminary agenda info was only just emailed out to member administrators yesterday on 6/17).
PLEJ SUMMER CONVENING
Taking place September 22-24 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL for PLEJ members.
More information for non-members on their Instagram.
PROTECTING THE ELECTION: AI & GOVERNANCE CONFERENCE
Taking place October 16-17, 2025 at WashU in St. Louis, MO
Visit their website here to learn more information.
They’re currently accepting proposals on following research topics (and five of the six topics are directly related to voter outreach and education:
How chatbots can be used to engage with voters
How social media influences voters
What the electorate knew (or did not know) about the candidates and issues during recent elections
Misinformation in elections
Rhetoric about election integrity
AI strategies for the administration of elections
These proposals should be a maximum of 250 words and be submitted to lcssp@hss.caltech.edu by July 15, 2025. Decisions announced no later than September 1, 2025.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Next week I intend to share my thoughts on
recent academic articles and reports I’ve been reading
recorded presentations and webinars that are available from past conferences
More new election certification programs I’ve recently stumbled upon!
Stay tuned and don’t be shy! Comment or send me a message about what topics you’d like to see heavier focus on moving forward. If you have questions about outreach, want formal consulting about implementing outreach in your own elections office/organization, or need help finding a particular template/explainer/organization to suit your needs, let’s connect!