Democracy Live Press Releases

Former Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos Joins Democracy Live

Washington DC— 12/28/2023 — Long time Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos has joined Democracy Live as the firm’s Joint-Director of Government Affairs. As past President of the National Association of Secretaries of State, Chair of the Vermont Senate Government Operations Committee (with elections oversight) and Co-Chair of the Council of State Governments Overseas Vote Initiative, Secretary Condos brings over 30 years of experience in the field of elections process, including access to secure and reliable voting. 

“I have spent many years in the Vermont legislature and as Secretary of State serving the interests of voters, both at the local and national level. My goal has always been to ensure all eligible voters, regardless of geography or disabilities, have had access to secure and accessible voting,” stated Condos. 

“I am excited and proud to join the pioneer and national leader in accessible remote voting. Democracy Live has an excellent reputation for innovation, service and leadership in the elections work across the country. I look forward to continuing to serve the elections community, including the voting public, in my role with Democracy Live.”    

Contact: [email protected]
866-655-VOTE (8683)

 

Democracy Live Partners with Critical Insight for Elections Technology Monitoring

Independent Cybersecurity Firm to Review and Monitor OmniBallot 24/7

SEATTLE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — For the first time in the elections technology market, a leading voting technology firm has engaged a nationally recognized cybersecurity firm to independently review and monitor their voting technology 24/7.

Democracy Live announced this week that they have engaged Critical Insight to independently monitor activity in the OmniBallot balloting portal before, during, and after each election. The results of the 24/7 elections cybersecurity monitoring will be made available to Democracy Live OmniBallot customers beginning in 2022.

With deployments in 29 States, OmniBallot is the nation’s leading digital ballot transmission technology. Critical Insight was founded by Michael Hamilton, the former Chief Information Security Officer for the City of Seattle, VeriSign Global Security Consultant and former Vice-Chair for the DHS State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Government Coordinating Council.

Democracy Live CEO, Bryan Finney commented on the partnership, “Working with Critical Insight, Democracy Live continues to push transparency and security in elections. For the first time ever, an independent cybersecurity firm will monitor an elections technology 24/7, while making the reports available to customers.”

Mr. Hamilton of Critical Insight stated, “Our company’s mission is to defend critical organizations against cyber threats. Defending elections technology is critical to our democracy and we are proud to work with Democracy Live on their important mission.”

ABOUT DEMOCRACY LIVE

Deployed in over 4,000 elections jurisdictions since 2008, Democracy Live is the largest provider of remote digital balloting in the United States. Democracy Live technologies have been deployed in 29 States, 2,500 jurisdictions and 96 countries across every continent. Democracy Live has been approved for funding by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. State Department to assist voters around the world. Democracy Live was awarded the Accessibility in Voting Award presented at the United Nations.

Democracy Live Announces Lori Augino as Vice-President of Government Relations

SEATTLE, August 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ —

Democracy Live has announced that Lori Augino has joined the company as Vice-President of Government Relations. As the Director of Elections at both State and local levels and as the Executive Director of the National Vote at Home Institute, Ms. Augino brings 28 years of elections experience to Democracy Live. Prior to her work at the National Vote at Home Institute, Lori served as the Director of Elections for the Washington Office of the Secretary of State. Ms. Augino was appointed by Secretary of State Kim Wyman in January 2013, where she was responsible for the oversight of all federal, state, and local elections. Lori served as the President of the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) from 2020 – 2021, served as a member of the Election Assistance Commission’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC), a member of the Council of State Government’s Overseas Voting Initiative, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Elections Critical Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council.

Read More at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/democracy-live-announces-lori-augino-as-vice-president-of-government-relations-301609621.html?tc=eml_cleartime

Cybersecurity Researchers to Test New Remote Ballot Printing System from Democracy Live

SEATTLE, June 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ —

Beginning in 2022, over 1,500 cybersecurity researchers will be testing a new technology from Democracy Live that allows voters who are unable to vote on a paper postal ballot, due to geography or disabilities, to access, mark and return their ballot. Democracy Live, the nation’s leading provider of remote balloting technologies, has teamed with Synack, the premier on-demand security platform for continuous penetration testing to test the Democracy Live “OmniBallot” remote ballot marking and printing system.

Read news at prnewshttps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cybersecurity-researchers-to-test-new-remote-ballot-printing-system-from-democracy-live-301568101.htmlwire.com.

Democracy Live Announces New Job Opportunities for 2022 in Voting Technologies

April 28, 2022 /PRSearchEngine/ — Are you looking to advance your career in 2022? Democracy Live is now hiring eager professionals who are interested in joining the voting revolution! The team is currently looking to fill the following positions: 

Interested candidates are welcome to apply on Indeed and CraigsList. Check Social Career Builder for more information.

Read news at prsearchengine.com.

Synack partners with Democracy Live to deliver more secure, remote balloting solutions

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Synack, the premier on-demand security platform for continuous penetration testing and vulnerability management, has partnered with Democracy Live, the largest provider of cloud and tablet-based balloting in the U.S., to conduct rigorous and continuous cybersecurity testing for its remote election technology.

Read news at prnewswire.com.

DEMOCRACY LIVE AWARDED CERTIFICATION APPROVAL For Dell/ Windows 10 IoT Enterprise Balloting Solution - November 11, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seattle, WA— 11/11/2019 — Seattle-based Democracy Live has been awarded full certification of the first stand-alone accessible balloting device in the elections industry. In collaboration with Dell and Microsoft, the OmniBallot Tablet offers a fully accessible ballot marking device leveraging the security and accessibility of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and Dell hardware. The OmniBallot Tablet is the first vendor-neutral, off-the-shelf ballot marking device that has been reviewed and approved by an EAC-approved independent test lab and tested and deployed in multiple states. The OmniBallot Tablet is designed to provide all voters, including voters with disabilities, the same off-the-shelf, secure computer technology in the polls as they have at home.

Democracy Live CEO, Bryan Finney stated, “By leveraging Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and Dell off-the-shelf hardware, we were able to drive up the levels of security and accessibility, while driving down the costs to the taxpayers. We are glad to help bring the highest levels of accessibility and security into polling places across the country.”

Kim Nelson, Director of State and Local Government for Microsoft stated, “Democracy Live has long been a partner to Microsoft and we are pleased that they are using the extensive built-in security and accessibility tools of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise to deliver a voting device that meets all the regulatory requirements. Millions of voters, including those with disabilities, have the right to vote independently. We are glad to partner with Democracy Live to bring the security and accessibility features of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise into the polling place.”

With over 35 million voters with disabilities and nearly 200,000 voting locations across the U.S., the OmniBallot Tablet offers secure, equal access to voting to every voter, regardless of disabilities. The States of Minnesota, Vermont and New Hampshire are the first states to be deploying the Dell/Windows 10 IoT Enterprise balloting solution for use in the polls.

END RELEASE

About Democracy Live:
With over 400 federal, state and local clients, Democracy Live is the largest provider of cloud and tablet-based balloting in the United States. Our OmniBallot cloud and tablet balloting tools have been deployed in over 1,000 U.S. elections and used by voters in over 90 countries on every continent. Democracy Live has received funding by the U.S. Department of Defense and the US Department of Health and Human Services to assist voters around the world access their ADA-compliant electronic ballot. In 2019, Democracy Live was awarded the Accessibility in Voting Award presented at the United Nations. For more information, visit www.democracylive.com. @democracylive

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To arrange an interview or for photos contact:

Felicia Erlich
Corporate Counsel, Director of Business Affairs, Democracy Live
[email protected]
855-655-VOTE
@democracylive

 

Democracy Live Completes Funding Round - $4,500,000.00- November 14, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seattle, WA— 11/14/2018 — Democracy Live closed its latest round of financing, fully subscribed at $4.5 million, fittingly on Election Day, November 6, 2018. The convertible note round was originally limited to $3.5 million, but excess demand together with opportunities to deploy the capital in the 2018 election cycle led to the expansion and full funding. Joe Brotherton, Chairman and lead investor said, “The investors are individuals or entities controlled by individuals. No VC or other investment funds were included. The funding to date has been friends and family.” CEO Bryan Finney added that, “I am especially pleased that I was able to concentrate on product development and implementation for a robust customer experience, rather than fundraising. I appreciate that this is a luxury most earlier stage companies cannot provide.”

Democracy Live is the largest provider of cloud-based voting technologies in the U.S. market. The company has developed two major product suites that have been deployed in hundreds of U.S. elections.

OmniBallot is an online and tablet balloting suite for states and local governments managing voting and elections. This includes providing ballots directly to military and overseas voters in over 90 countries and accessible ballots to voters with disabilities around the U.S. With over 900 elections to date, OmniBallot is the most deployed online balloting technology in the U.S.

LiveBallot is an interactive, multimedia voter information solution for the 200 million voters in the U.S. LiveBallot was licensed by over 70 organizations in 2018 to provide an efficient way to communicate their endorsements to voters and further their political reach. LiveBallot was the first voter information app to deliver interactive, voter and candidate information through online, mobile and Amazon Echo devices.

LiveBallot allows voters to receive a personalized, interactive ballot to the device of their choosing. Voters can research options, hear from their candidates, check endorsements and mark their preferences. “It allows the voting process to start earlier and helps voters become better prepared and informed.”, said Finney. Brotherton added that the concept of the social ballot has now been proven. “LiveBallot makes it easy for an informed voter to share her or his ballot preferences with their friends and social networks. We have tested the social ballot in the last two major elections and the effect is material. People often search for the opinions of people they trust. As we now move to the Presidential election in 2020, LiveBallot will continue to help fulfill our mission of creating a more informed democracy.“

About Democracy Live
Seattle-based Democracy Live is the leading cloud-based ballot and voter information technology provider in the U.S. Serving millions of voters in hundreds of elections over the last decade, Democracy Live offers pioneering voting technologies to voters around the world. For more information, visit www.democracylive.com. @democracylive

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To arrange an interview or for photos contact:

Nan Jackson
Director of Marketing, Democracy Live
[email protected]
855-655-VOTE
@democracylive

 

One winner in ’18 was Social Voting Technology- November 12, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seattle, WA— 11/12/2018 — Social networking is a known leading influencer in how people vote. In 2018, the early returns are showing that new technologies combining social networking and voting were big winners. Led by Seattle-based Democracy Live and their LiveBallot solution, social voting technologies were deployed by hundreds of organizations representing millions of voters. The intent of these new technologies is to “share the ballot” between voters leveraging friend-to-friend influence in deciding how to vote.

“For decades the biggest factor in how voters voted was how much money the campaigns raised”, stated Joe Brotherton, Chairman of Democracy Live. “With LiveBallot and other social voting tools, we saw a shift back to people-powered voting, instead of money-powered voting.”

“It shows the power of the social ballot. When you get a ballot from your sister, spouse, best friend or trusted colleague with their recommendations, it is a powerful data point on deciding how to vote” Brotherton added. “We also introduced the only voice driven ballot information distribution through our venture with Amazon Alexa.”

“LiveBallot was a terrific tool to help the NEA spread the word about our candidates and mobilize our voters with our preferred ballot selections,” stated Tim Reed, Senior Digital Strategist who leads the NEA Education Votes project. In 2018, LiveBallot was selected by the Sierra Club, National Education Association (NEA), California Democratic Party and dozens of other organizations, representing over 10 million voters.

About Democracy Live Seattle-based Democracy Live is the leading cloud-based ballot and voter information technology provider in the U.S. Serving millions of voters in hundreds of elections over the last decade, Democracy Live offers pioneering voting technologies to voters around the world. For more information, visit www.democracylive.com.
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To arrange an interview or for additional photos contact:

Nan Jackson
Director of Marketing, Democracy Live
[email protected]
855-655-VOTE
@democracylive

 

Democracy Live Launches Secure Voting Portal for Election Day - November 6 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seattle, WA— 11/06/2018 — Seattle-based Democracy Live has launched a secure online portal to assist voters access their ballots on Election Day. Over 20 million voters in the United States cannot vote a traditional ballot at a voting location because they are stationed in the military, living abroad, or have a disability that prevents them from marking a paper ballot. The OmniBallot system from Democracy Live is now available for eligible voters to access and mark their ballots, anywhere in the world.

“Through our collaborative efforts with both Amazon and Microsoft cloud providers, Democracy Live has developed a voting day solution to deliver a secure, fully accessible, online ballot to millions of voters who cannot vote a traditional ballot,” stated Democracy Live CEO, Bryan Finney.

According to the Census bureau and State Department, over 25 million voters either have a disability or are stationed and living abroad. “For millions of voters who cannot make it to a local voting location, OmniBallot ensures they are able to securely and easily access their ballots regardless of geography or ability,” Finney said.

According to Debbie Cook at the University of Washington Center for Technology and Disability Studies, “The Democracy Live system is a marvelous example of a universally designed ballot system. It provides a valuable resource for all voters, including those with disabilities who often lack access to this critical information.”

Depending on the location of the voter, OmniBallot is securely hosted in Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure to deliver the correct ballot and ballot information to eligible voters in the U.S. “Security, scalability and accessibility of data is critical in elections, which is why we went with these world-class hosting providers,” stated Island Pinnick, Chief Technology Officer of Democracy Live.

Given the importance of security in elections, the Department of Homeland Security labeled elections and voting a part of the nation’s critical voting infrastructure. Finney, in his role as CEO of Democracy Live, was recently nominated and selected to sit on the Homeland Security Elections Sector Executive Committee. Democracy Live was one of four firms selected for the Sector Executive Committee.

About Democracy Live Seattle-based Democracy Live is the leading cloud-based ballot and voter information technology provider in the U.S. Serving millions of voters in hundreds of elections over the last decade, Democracy Live offers pioneering voting technologies to voters around the world. For more information, visit www.democracylive.com

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Media Contact:

Nan Jackson

Director of Marketing, Democracy Live [email protected]

855-655-VOTE

@democracylive

 

Audio Ballot Comes to Alexa via LiveBallot - October 30, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seattle, WA— 10/30/2018 — The audio ballot is coming to millions of voters via the Amazon Echo platform for the upcoming election. Seattle-based Democracy Live just launched an interactive voting skill on Amazon Alexa where voters can listen to contests and candidates appearing on their statewide ballot.

 

“Voice technology is the fastest growing method of communication and information in the U.S.  Delivering ballot and candidate information to millions of voters via Alexa is a logical step toward a more informed democracy”, stated Democracy Live CEO, Bryan Finney.

 

Through the Alexa LiveBallot app, voters can simply say “Alexa, Open Live Ballot.” The LiveBallot skill will tell voters who is appearing on their ballots, let them listen to participating candidates’ audio statements, and select the candidates they plan to vote for. LiveBallot provides all the statewide contests in 2018, but will expand to include local contests in 2020.

 

According to a report from Juniper Research, smart devices like the Amazon Echo, Google Home and Sonos One will be installed in a majority (55%) of U.S. households by the year 2022. By that time, over 70 million households will have at least one of these smart speakers in their home, and the total number of installed devices will top 175 million.

 

About 60% of Amazon Echo users have at least one household accessory, such as a thermostat, security system, or appliance, connected to them, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. With LiveBallot it appears the next “home accessory” for Alexa may be your ballot.

 

About Democracy Live                                                                                                                        Seattle-based Democracy Live is the leading cloud-based ballot and voter information technology provider in the U.S. Serving nearly 25 million voters in hundreds of elections over the last decade, Democracy Live offers pioneering voting technologies to voters around the world. For more information, visit www.democracylive.com

 

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Media Contact:

Nan Jackson

Director of Marketing, Democracy Live

[email protected]

855-655-VOTE

 

Accessible Voter Guide & Sample Ballot - November 2, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2, 2016

Contact: Brandi L. Orth
County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
PHONE 559-600-1730
FAX 559-488-3279

FRESNO, CA– Brandi Orth, Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters, has announced the addition of an accessible, audio-enabled sample ballot and voter guide lookup tool for Fresno County registered voters to utilize, beginning now for the upcoming November 8, 2016 Presidential Election. Voters can simply navigate to the Fresno County website at http://www.co.fresno.ca.us/ where they will find the icon for: Accessible Voter Guide & Sample Ballot. Additionally, the site can be easily and directly accessed at: https://ca-asb.liveballot.com/Fresno. Once the voter signs in, they can view their ballot and voter guide online with the use of their special equipment at home.

Orth said, “We are so pleased to offer this new audio-enabled sample ballot and voter guide for Fresno County registered voters. The site can be accessed by any voter from any device through any web browser.” She added, “We are constantly striving for the best ways to ensure that every registered voter in Fresno County can easily access the information for their ballot and this latest technology will allow that to happen.”

Hosted on the secure Microsoft Cloud for Government, the accessible sample ballot and voter guide are multilingual, and compatible with all major screen readers, tactile switches, closed captioning and sip-and-puff systems.

Sarah Harris, a Fresno County registered voter, was one of the first to try the Accessible Voter Guide and was pleased with the results. Sarah explained, “The sample ballot for 2016 was very accessible and easy to navigate. This has made my voting experience for 2016 much easier.”

The LiveBallot technology, already utilized by the Fresno County Elections Office, provides this valuable service. In 2012, Fresno County was one of only 13 California counties to receive funding from the Department of Defense to use the LiveBallot technology to deliver electronic ballots to Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAA) voters.

Orth concluded with a reminder that Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th and urged all registered voters to exercise their right to have their voice heard by casting their ballot. Please visit the Fresno County Elections office website at http://www.co.fresno.ca.us/Departments.aspx?id=144 to learn more.

Democracy Live Launches LiveBallot - October 6, 2016
The First App That Delivers Personalized Ballots and Information to Over 200 Million U.S. Voters

New Voting App Allows Voting to Go Viral

SEATTLE, October 6, 2016– Democracy Live, the nation’s leading cloud-balloting technology firm, today launched its LiveBallot app and website to provide every U.S. voter with access to his/her ballot, untethering the voting experience from the polling place. With LiveBallot, voters can access and interact with their ballots ahead of Election Day to research, save and even share their ballot choices.

Democracy Live is ushering a new way to vote through the first-ever social balloting technology. Voters can get a virtual replica of their ballot and share their choices on social media, direct from their online ballot. Through LiveBallot, voters can click on any of the candidates appearing on their ballot to read, watch or discuss each candidate and mark their choices.

“LiveBallot is the only app that delivers a customized ballot to each of the 200 million voters in the U.S.,” said Bryan Finney, president and CEO of Democracy Live. “Rather than relying on yard signs and sound bites, voters can use LiveBallot to help be a more informed and impactful voter. LiveBallot has the potential to reduce disenfranchisement, by making voting more efficient and less time consuming for voters. For the first time in election history, voters will have a virtual replica of their ballots on their personal devices, computers and in their hands ahead of Election Day.”

LiveBallot is powered through Democracy Live’s proprietary national balloting database. LiveBallot is updated in real time and includes information about the candidates’ experience, endorsements and funding, as well as a voter’s state and local ballot measures and polling place information.

“We can do almost anything on our smartphones, from checking our bank statements to buying groceries. It only makes sense that we can now add providing voting information and accessing our ballots to that list of capabilities,” said Joe Brotherton, chairman of Democracy Live. “Ensuring that data-driven information is easily available to voters will enable and encourage them to vote. This is the future of voting.”

To increase voter participation, the app also alerts users of upcoming elections and ballot availability. Additionally, Democracy Live partners with organizations on both sides of the political aisle to share their endorsements with likely voters via LiveBallot. With one click, voters can mark their ballots to align with organizations they support.

LiveBallot joins Democracy Live’s existing suite of voting technologies in public elections. As a leader in the voting technology space, Democracy Live has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense, to enable Americans to vote abroad with ease since its founding in 200. The company has revolutionized voting for U.S. military members overseas, citizens living abroad and voters with disabilities. With the LiveBallot app, Democracy Live is now extending that core technology to make voting easier for every voter for every election.

LiveBallot is available for iOS in the App Store for free and at LiveBallot.com.

Democracy Live is not affiliated with any political group or interest group.

About Democracy Live

Democracy Live is a voter information and technology company dedicated to providing voters with personalized information to make knowledgeable decisions when voting. Through its LiveBallot technology, Democracy Live enables U.S. citizens, domestically or abroad, to access critical information needed to thoughtfully and actively participate in the voting process. Founded in 200 and based in Seattle, Democracy Live has been funded in part by the U.S. Department of Defense, Intel and Microsoft.

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Media Contact:

Molly Strong, Suong Nguyen & Christie Melby
Communiqué PR for Democracy Live
[email protected]
(206) 282-4923

Democracy Live Receives Government Certification for Online Balloting - March 11, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 11, 2016

SEATTLE WA- Democracy Live has received the first-in-the nation full certification for an online balloting solution by a government entity. The Florida Bureau of Voting Systems Certification has approved LiveBallot, Democracy Live’s Microsoft cloud-based balloting system, for use in the State of Florida. Thirty five counties in Florida and nearly 400 localities in the U.S. now use the LiveBallot system.

The LiveBallot system was developed by Democracy Live to help state and local elections officials provide online balloting to military, overseas and disabled voters. Working in partnership with and with funding from Microsoft, the LiveBallot system is the most deployed cloud-based balloting solution in the U.S.

“LiveBallot has been a true benefit to our overseas and military voters around the world. Those voters have been able to quickly access and mark their ballot no matter where in the world they are living or stationed abroad fighting for our country,” said Paul Lux, Okaloosa County Clerk and the leader of a Department of Defense 35-county Florida consortium of counties.

Democracy Live, based in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 2007 with the goal of simplifying the voting process for all US citizens by providing innovative and accessible balloting tools that also reduce the cost of holding elections. Democracy Live has received funding from the Microsoft and Intel to assist the nearly 200 million domestic, overseas and disabled voters in the U.S. With over 500 successful deployments to date, Democracy Live is the largest provider of web balloting in the United States.

Vote Anywhere with LiveBallot - Feb. 3, 2016
The Walton Sun Feb. 3, 2016

Vote anywhere with LiveBallot

Walton County recently went live with the first-ever Web balloting technology to help military and overseas voters around the world. This new tool called “LiveBallot” is funded from a grant from the Department of Defense. LiveBallot allows men and women overseas to get their correct ballot in a timely manner to participate in elections back home. Walton County leads the way in providing accessible balloting tools to its voters. Democracy Live is the vendor providing this technology to the County.

For more information Democracy Live, at 855-655-VOTE (8683)