City Clerk’s Office Recognized for Excellence in Election Administration with National Clearinghouse Award

The Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office has been honored for excellence in election administration with a national Clearinghouse Award in the category of Contingency Planning: Exemplary Contingency Planning and Emergency Response Efforts — Small/Medium Jurisdictions. Also known as the “Clearies,” the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) presents the awards program annually to celebrate the hard work of election offices across the country. Now in its ninth year, this year’s Clearie Awards honored programs that took place during the 2024 presidential election year.

One of 53 programs nationwide to earn a Clearie Award, the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office was recognized for their planning efforts for election day safety and security. Recently, Ann Arbor officials executed a tabletop exercise (TTX) to plan response to a potential election day weather event where widespread power outages were the simulated result. A major takeaway from this exercise was the need for election officials, safety officers and public works teams to all be invested in the security of the election process. Following the success of the tabletop, the city clerk’s office and city TTX team developed the Ann Arbor Emergency Election Operations Handbook. A second TTX was planned for August 2024 to focus on assisting the campus of the University of Michigan. This TTX included a broader group of election partners from the university, a learning from the first exercise. The city clerk’s office team worked with university officials to form a specific safety team in preparation for the opening of the satellite clerk offices on U-M’s campus in fall 2024. Additionally, the plan placed a focus on voters’ rights and access to the ballot box. 

“The city clerk’s office is excited to be recognized with our third EAC Clearinghouse award,” said Ann Arbor City Clerk Jacqueline Beaudry, who also received EAC awards in 2020 and 2023. “We share this honor with the city office of emergency management for their partnership and commitment to the safety and security of elections in Ann Arbor.”

The Clearies play are essential to fulfilling the EAC’s mission to serve as a clearinghouse for election administration information under the Help America Vote Act. The EAC is an independent, bipartisan federal agency solely focused on election administration. Submissions were judged on innovation, sustainability, outreach, cost-effectiveness, replicability and the generation of positive results.

EAC Chairman Donald Palmer, Vice Chair Thomas Hicks and Commissioners Christy McCormick and Ben Hovland praised the 2024 Clearie winners in a joint statement: 

“This year’s Clearinghouse Award-winning programs truly shined amid the high voter turnout in 2024. They are examples of the outstanding work election officials did to support tens of millions of voters during the presidential election. After nearly a decade, the Clearinghouse Awards continue to grow with a record number of entries received this year. These programs show how state and local election offices are the incubators of innovation. We are pleased to lift their ideas up and celebrate them on a national stage.”

The 2024 awards categories include:

• Communications: Distinguished Voter Education and Communications Initiatives — Small/Medium Jurisdictions, Large Jurisdictions, State Level
• Security: Innovation and New Tools in Election Security and Technology
• Contingency Planning: Exemplary Contingency Planning and Emergency Response Efforts — Small/Medium Jurisdictions and Large Jurisdictions
• Election Administration: Innovations or New Practices in Election Administration — Small/Medium Jurisdictions, Large Jurisdictions, State Level
• Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Grants: Outstanding Use of HAVA Grants in Election Modernization
• Accessibility: Best Practices for Improving Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities  
• Poll Workers: Best Practices in Recruiting, Retaining, and Training Poll Workers — Small/Medium Jurisdictions and Large Jurisdictions
• “I Voted” Stickers: Creative and Original “I Voted” Stickers — Small/Medium Jurisdictions and Large Jurisdictions 

More information on the Clearies and each awardee is available on eac.gov. To learn more about the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office, visit www.a2gov.org/clerk.

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Media Contact:

Jacqueline Beaudry, Ann Arbor City Clerk, 734.794.6140 |  jbeaudry@a2gov.org