Configure Election Management

Election Management can be used to manage election day activities, monitor performance, and gauge voter sentiment.

Learn how to configure the Election Management solution to meet specific needs in your organization.

Manage election data

The Election Data Management ArcGIS Pro project includes a series of tasks to help guide you through creating, loading, and maintaining an inventory of electoral districts, voting locations, and voting precincts.

Get started

To get started with Election Data Management, complete the following steps.

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Election Data Management Desktop Application Template.
2. Open the item page, and then click Download.
3. Unzip and open the Election Data Management ArcGIS Pro project.
4. On the View tab, in the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.
5. In the Catalog pane, expand the Tasks folder, and then double-click the Election Data Management task item.
6. In the Tasks pane, click the Getting Started task group to expand the collection of tasks.

Election Data Management is used to load, create, and edit foundational election data used in apps such as My Elected Representative, Election Polling Places, and Election Manager. The solution uses three foundational datasets:

• Voting Locations
• Voting Precincts
• Electoral Districts

Voting Locations contains facilities where voters can cast ballots and is defined by a point layer. They can be either polling places, voting centers, or ballot drop boxes, depending on your community's needs. Voting centers and ballot drop boxes can be modified to allow early voting.

Voting Precincts contains areas that define your community's precincts and is defined by a polygon layer. They are related to voting locations by a unique ID and define the unique polling place where voters in a precinct should cast ballots.

Electoral Districts contains geographies that define an elected office's area of representation and is defined by a polygon layer. For example, a mayor's Electoral District is the municipal boundary. Key attributes are used in My Elected Representative app.

Before proceeding to subsequent tasks, follow the instructions in the Add election geography layer task to add the ElectionGeography feature layer deployed with the solution.

Load existing election data

Your election agency may have existing polling place, voting center, ballot drop box, voting precinct, or electoral district data, which can be loaded into the ElectionGeography feature layer.

Voting Locations are designated as either Polling Places, Voting Centers, or Ballot Drop Boxes using the Voting Facility Type field. Both Voting Centers and Polling Places use a standard for operational days and hours in the Voting Centers and Election Polling Places apps included with the Election Outreach solution. To load existing voting location data, designate the type and format the operational days and hours, following the instructions in the Polling places, Voting centers, and Ballot drop boxes tasks.

The voting precinct’s relationship with a polling place is defined by populating the Polling GlobalID field with the GlobalID from the corresponding polling place. Establishing this relationship allows the Election Polling Places app to display the appropriate polling place when a user searches by address or defines a location on the map. Follow the instructions in the Voting precincts task to load existing data and establish the relationship.

Follow the instructions in the Electoral districts task to load existing electoral district data.

Create new election data

You may need to create new election data if existing data is not available. Follow the instructions in the Create new election data task group to create new voting locations, voting precincts, and electoral districts.

Note:

Map layers must be visible to create new data.

Prepare for the next election

Election data changes over time as new voting locations are established, precincts are modified, and election cycles are completed. You must update key fields, such as the next election date, to maintain election data accuracy and ensure that public facing apps included with the Election Outreach solution display the correct information. Use the Next election date, Next voter registration date, and Early voting start and end date tasks to update key date fields as election cycles are completed. Use the Modify voting locations, Modify precincts, and Modify electoral districts tasks to edit your election data.

Modify election and drop box request types

When voting location workers create requests using the Election Assistant app and the Election Requests form, requests are automatically created as assignments in the corresponding Election Manager ArcGIS Workforce project. Requests submitted by ballot collection officers using the Drop Box Requests form also create assignments in the Election Manager project. Using Election Manager, dispatchers can assign requests to field rovers. Additionally, a dispatcher may need to create an assignment directly without a request from a voting location worker. For example, dispatchers can optionally create ballot collection assignments to initiate the ballot collection workflow. Follow the steps below to add additional request types to the Election Manager Workforce project and the Election Requests ArcGIS Survey123 form.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and click the Apps button

   

   in the header of the site.
2. From the app launcher, click Workforce to open the app.
3. Under Projects, hover over the Election Manager project, and click Configure.
4. Click the Assignment Types tab.
5. In the text box, enter a new assignment type, and then click + Type.
6. Repeat until all new assignments types have been added.
Before populating the new assignment types into the Election Requests form, you will first copy the GlobalID for each new assignment type.
7. In your ArcGIS organization, browse to the Election Manager feature layer.
8. Open the item page, and then click Open in Map Viewer.
9. On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Tables.
10. Click the Assignment Types layer.
11. In the table header, click Tools, and then check the GlobalID field to show (unhide) in the table.
12. Click Done to close the pop-up window.
13. Expand the GlobalID field and copy the first new assignment type's ID.
14. Paste the copied GlobaIID into Microsoft Notepad or another text editor for reference.
15. If applicable, copy any additional assignment type’s ID into the same text editor.

Update the Election Requests form

Update the Election Requests form with each new assignment type.

1. Install ArcGIS Survey123 Connect.
2. Start ArcGIS Survey123 Connect and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.
3. Click Election Requests to download the survey.
4. In the Download window, click Download and click OK.
5. Click Election Requests to open the survey.
6. On the left, from the side toolbar, click the XLSForm button.
7. At the bottom of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, click the choices tab.

   This tab comprises all the selectable options for survey questions.

8. In the list_name column, type ASSIGN_TYPE.
9. From the text editor, copy the GlobalID.
10. In the name column, paste the GlobalID, and before and after the GlobalID, add curly braces (for example, {5b3e80df-aec7-4739-929f-8cb70cdbd62c}).
11. In the label column, type the assignment type.
12. For each new assignment type, repeat the previous steps.
13. Save and close the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and preview your changes in ArcGIS Survey123 Connect.
14. In ArcGIS Survey123 Connect, in the left toolbar, click Publish to publish your changes.
15. Click Publish survey to publish your changes, and then click OK.

Update the Drop Box Requests form

Update the Drop Box Requests form with each new assignment type.

1. Install ArcGIS Survey123 Connect.
2. Start ArcGIS Survey123 Connect and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.
3. Click Drop Box Requests to download the survey.
4. In the Download window, click Download and click OK.
5. Click Election Requests to open the survey.
6. On the left, from the side toolbar, click the XLSForm button.
7. At the bottom of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, click the choices tab.

   This tab comprises all the selectable options for survey questions.

8. In the list_name column, type ASSIGN_TYPE.
9. From the text editor, copy the GlobalID.
10. In the name column, paste the GlobalID, and before and after the GlobalID, add curly braces (for example, {5b3e80df-aec7-4739-929f-8cb70cdbd62c}).
11. In the label column, type the assignment type.
12. For each new assignment type, repeat the previous steps.
13. At the bottom of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, click the survey tab.

    This tab comprises all the questions in the survey.

14. For the select_one ASSIGN_TYPE question, in the readonly column, remove the yes setting.
15. For the select_one ASSIGN_TYPE question, in the default column, remove the GlobalID.

    Note:

    When adding more than one request type, it may be helpful to select an appearance such as minimal on the select_one ASSIGN_TYPE question.

16. Save and close the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and preview your changes in ArcGIS Survey123 Connect.
17. In ArcGIS Survey123 Connect, in the left toolbar, click Publish to publish your changes.
18. Click Publish survey to publish your changes, and then click OK.

Configure location tracking

Ballot collection officers use ArcGIS Field Maps to track their locations while collecting ballots in the field. Location tracks can then be added and viewed in the Ballot Collection Dashboard app.

Enable location tracking

First, location tracking needs to be enabled for your ArcGIS Organization. Then, members of the organization need to be licensed.

1. To enable location tracking for your ArcGIS Online Organization, see enabling location tracking.
2. The ArcGIS Tracker license is available as an add-on for all user types. See ArcGIS Tracker requirements for more information.

Create a track view

After enabling location tracking for your ArcGIS Organization, you will create a track view that will be used by ballot collection officers in the field.

You will use Track Viewer to create a track view of ballot collection officers.

1. In a browser, sign in to your organization and open Track Viewer.

   By default, if Track Viewer is installed and you have the view location tracks privilege, it is in the app launcher. Installation is often done as part of enabling location tracking.

2. Click Create View.
3. Type a view name, such as ballotcollectiontracking, and then click Create View.

   Tip:

   Make a note of the name used for the view. The view is a hosted feature layer view and will be referenced in later steps when adding the feature layer to the Ballot Collection Dashboard.

   When you create the view, a group in ArcGIS Online that controls access to the view is also created.

4. On the Mobile Users tab, follow these steps to add ballot collection officers to be tracked in the field.
   1. For Select to add mobile users, click the drop-down menu.
   2. Search for each ballot collection officer, and then click Add.

      Tip:

      When using the Ballot Collection Officers group provide access to the apps used by ballot collection officers, search for Ballot Collection Officers group and click Add.

      When you create the view, a group in ArcGIS Online that controls access to the view is also created.

Note:

While you can add any user as a mobile user, that user won't have a last known location or track until they are tracked with the ArcGIS Tracker mobile app or tracked with the Field Maps mobile app.

Visualize tracks

You will now add the track view to the Ballot Collection Dashboard to visualize location tracks with ballot collection activities.

1. In a browser, sign in to your organization and open the Ballot Collection Dashboard Web Map.
2. On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Add and click Browse layers.
3. Search for ballotcollectiontracking or the name of the track view created above.
4. Click Add on the layer result to add the layer to the map.
5. Save the Ballot Collection Dashboard Web Map.
6. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization, and then browse to the Ballot Collection Dashboard.
7. From the item page, click Edit Dashboard.
8. Hover over the upper right corner of the Time selector, and then click the Configure button.
9. Select the Actions tab.
10. Expand the Filter section.
11. Under Ballot Collection Dashboard, next to Track Lines, Tracks, and Last Known Locations click the toggle button.
12. Use the following table to select the appropriate Target field.

    Layer	Target field
    Track lines	End Time
    Tracks	Location Timestamp
    Last known Locations	Location Timestamp

13. Click Done.
14. Hover over the upper right corner of the Team Captain selector and click the Configure button.
15. Select the Actions tab.
16. Expand the Filter section.
17. Under Ballot Collection Dashboard, next to Track Lines, Tracks, and Last Known Locations click the toggle button.
18. For each location tracking layer’s Target field, select Full Name.
19. Click Done.
20. Click the Save button.

Update drop box and team information

The Collection Checklist and Return Checklist forms use choice lists to help ballot collection officers enter correct information. Drop box locations, ballot collection teams and election officials are stored in CSV files included with the Election Management Solution.

The CSV files allow information to be updated quickly when needed.

Update ballot collection locations

The Collection Checklist and Return Checklist forms define the name of the ballot drop box's location with the DropBoxes CSV file, which is linked to the ArcGIS Survey123 forms. Updating the DropBoxes CSV file helps ballot collection officers enter correct information and ensures that the Ballot Collection Dashboard functions properly.

1. Sign into your ArcGIS organization and locate the DropBoxes CSV file.
2. Click Download and open the DropBoxes CSV file on your computer.
3. In the name and label columns, enter the location name of the ballot drop box.

   Note:

   The name should be unique and match the location name of the ballot drop box populated in the Voting Locations layer of the ElectionGeograpy feature layer.

4. In the globalid column, enter the globalid of the ballot drop box.

   Note:

   The globalid should match the globalid of the ballot drop box in the Voting Locations layer of the ElectionGeograpy feature layer.

5. In the address column, enter the address of the ballot drop box.
6. In the id column, enter the id of the ballot drop box.

   The result should look similar to the following table.

   name	label	globalid	address	id
   Drop box location name 1	Drop box location name 1	56f43792-1e83-4bb7-ada5-725c508011e2	101 S Main St	DB-1
   Drop box location name 2	Drop box location name 2	38faa2b7-974c-439b-8b80-11e725f62679	202 N Main St	DB-2

7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 for each ballot drop box.
8. Save the DropBoxes file.
9. From the item page, click Update Data.
10. Follow the steps in the Update data wizard to load your data.

    Note:

    The Collection Checklist and Return Checklist will utilize the updated DropBoxes CSV file the next time they are used.

Update ballot collection teams

The Collection Checklist and Return Checklist forms define the name collection team members with the Team CSV file which is linked to the ArcGIS Survey123 forms. Team Captain is populated with the user currently logged into the ArcGIS Survey123 app. Team Assistant and Driver are defined using the Team CSV file. Updating the Team CSV file helps ballot collection officers enter correct information quickly and ensures that all teams members are accurately entered.

1. Sign into your ArcGIS organization and locate the Team CSV file.
2. Click Download and open the Team CSV file on your computer.
3. In the name and label columns, enter the team member's name.
4. In the assistant column, enter the name of the team member who will be working with the previous team member.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each team member.

   Note:

   The name and assistant pairings should be comprehensive for each team of two. For example, each team member should be entered in both the name and assistant column. The result should look similar to the below table.

   name	label	assistant
   Jane Doe	Jane Doe	John Doe
   John Doe	John Doe	Jane Doe

6. Save the Team file.
7. From the item page, click Update Data.
8. Follow the steps in the Update data wizard to load your data.

   Note:

   The Collection Checklist and Return Checklist will utilize the updated Team CSV file the next time they are used.

Update election officials

The Return Checklist form defines the name election official receiving ballots from the collection team with the ElectionOfficials CSV file which is linked to the ArcGIS Survey123 form. Updating the ElectionOfficials CSV file helps ballot collection officers enter correct information quickly.

1. Sign into your ArcGIS organization and locate the Team CSV file.
2. Click Download and open the ElectionOfficials CSV file on your computer.
3. In the name and label columns, enter the election official's name.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each election official.

   Note:

   The result should look similar to the following table.

   name	label
   Jane Doe	Jane Doe
   John Doe	John Doe

5. Save the ElectionOfficials file.
6. From the item page, click Update Data.
7. Follow the steps in the Update data wizard to load your data.

   Note:

   The Return Checklist will utilize the updated ElectionOfficials CSV file the next time it is used.

Update ballot collection forms

The Collection Checklist and Return Checklist allows you to track ballot chain of custody as teams collect ballots from official ballot drop boxes. In some cases, you may want to add or remove questions from the survey.

1. Start ArcGIS Survey123 Connect and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.
2. Click Collection Checklist to download the survey.
3. In the Download window, click Download, and then click OK.
4. Click Collection Checklist again to open the survey.
5. In the XLSForm Modified window, click Yes.
6. On the side toolbar, click Open XLSForm Spreadsheet.
7. In the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, click the choices tab.

   This tab comprises all the selectable options for survey questions.

8. Click the survey tab.

   This tab comprises all the questions in the survey.

9. Revise the survey to reflect your needs.
10. Save and close the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and then preview your changes in Survey123 Connect.
11. In Survey123 Connect, click Publish on the side toolbar.
12. Click Publish survey to publish your changes, and then click OK.
13. Repeat steps 2 through 12 for the Return Checklist.

Update the voter satisfaction survey

The Voter Satisfaction Survey allows you to solicit feedback from voters to help you gauge voter sentiment during an ongoing election. In some cases, you may want to add or remove questions from the survey.

1. Start ArcGIS Survey123 Connect and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.
2. Click Voter Satisfaction Survey to download the survey.
3. In the Download window, click Download and click OK.
4. Click Voter Satisfaction Survey again to open the survey.
5. In the XLSForm Modified window, click Yes.
6. On the side toolbar, click Open XLSForm Spreadsheet.
7. In the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, click the choices tab.

   This tab comprises all the selectable options for survey questions.

8. Click the survey tab.

   This tab comprises all the questions in the survey.

9. Revise the survey to reflect your needs.
10. Save and close the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and then preview your changes in Survey123 Connect.
11. In Survey123 Connect, click Publish on the side toolbar.
12. Click Publish survey to publish your changes, and then click OK.

Create Election Assistant direct URLs

Election Assistant is accessed through a URL in a web browser. To report a wait time or request assistance, election workers then use either the map or list to select their assigned polling place or voting center. Organizations that have many voting locations may want to provide poll workers a direct URL to the Election Assistant app. You can use a web browser URL parameter to help poll workers by opening the Election Assistant app with the proper voting location already selected.

By adding a facilityid parameter to the app URL, Election Assistant selects the location without user interaction. Ensure that each voting location has a unique identifier in the facilityid field in the ElectionGeography feature layer. For example, by adding &facilityid=89 to the app URL, Election Assistant selects facility ID number 89. The full URL is similar to this one:

https://myorganization.maps.arcgis.com/apps/CrowdsourcePolling/index.html?appid=449f9c890c584c9395a393ad5a541bc6&facilityid=89

Configure the Become An Election Worker site

The Election Management solution includes the Become An Election Worker ArcGIS Hub site. This site can be configured with your organization's branding and used to solicit election workers and share access to the apps that election workers need to complete their tasks.

Update with organizational information

After deploying the Election Management solution, the Become An Election Worker Hub site layout requires a few updates to fit your local context.

To update the site with your organizational information, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Become An Election Worker site.
2. From the item page, click Configure.
3. Scroll to any sections that you want to update, hover over the card, and click the edit pencil that appears in the horizontal toolbar, and then edit the content with information specific to your organization.
4. In the side panel, click Footer.

   A custom footer is provided. In most cases, you will need to update it with your organization's branding, contact information, and social media references.

5. Click the HTML box.

   The HTML window appears.

6. Make the necessary changes and click Apply.
7. Click Save.
8. Click the Save drop-down arrow and click Publish Draft.

Share items with the public

The Become An Election Worker site must be shared with everyone so that it can be accessed by the public.

To share your site with the public, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Election Management folder.
2. Next to each of the following items, check the check box:

   Name	Item type
   Become An Election Worker	Hub Site Application

3. Click Share.
4. In the Share window, click Everyone (public) and click Save.

Administer election workers

The Election Management solution can be used to solicit election workers. Mapping technicians can configure the Election Worker Notebook to help election staff manage the process efficiently.

Share Election Election Worker Application with Hub Community Members group

To apply to become an election worker, a user must have a community user account and be signed into the Become An Election Worker site. To grant access to the Election Worker Application, you should share the form and the ElectionWorkerApplications_submit feature layer to the Hub Community Members group. This group is automatically created during Hub Premium activation and contains all members of your community organization. As new community members join, they will be automatically added to this group and will have access to the Election Worker Application form.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Election Management folder.
2. Check the box next to the Election Worker Application Form and ElectionWorkerApplications_submit Feature Layer (hosted, view).
3. Click Share.
4. In the Share window, click Edit group sharing.
5. Check the box next to the Hub Community Members group.

Note:

The Hub Community Members group will only be available to users who were administrators of the org when Hub Premium was activated. If you don’t see this group, work with the Hub Community organization administrator to get access to this group.

6. Click OK.
7. Click Save.

Schedule the Election Worker Notebook

When election staff use the Election Worker Manager app to approve election worker applications, the Election Worker Notebook grants volunteers access to election apps according to election worker's approved roles.

Follow the steps below to schedule the Election Worker Notebook to run as a scheduled task.

Note:

To run and schedule ArcGIS Notebooks and complete the following steps, you must be assigned an Administrator role or a custom role that includes the privilege to create, edit, and schedule notebooks.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Election Worker Notebook item.
2. Open the item page and click Open Notebook.
3. Click Tasks.
4. Click Create Task.
5. For Title, type Election Worker Task, and then click Next.
6. The task can be configured to run nightly by selecting Day from the Repeat Type drop-down then selecting 1 - Every Day from the Repeat Interval drop-down.
7. Select a Time for the task to run like 3:00 AM.
8. Click Create Task to finish scheduling the notebook