• Dedicates award to Ohioans

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has been awarded the U. S. Election Assistance Commission 2020 Clearing House Award as one of just four Secretaries of State Recognized for Annual Award.

The annual “Clearie” awards, hosted by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, recognized Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose for innovative voter outreach and poll worker recruitment programs that led to Ohio’s most successful election ever.

Previous state records were shattered with 8+ million Ohioans registered and almost 6 million ballots cast producing an all-time high 74% statewide voter turnout.

Historically, 65% of Ohio’s poll workers have been over the age of 60, making the dangers of COVID-19 a significant obstacle towards making sure polling locations were fully staffed on Election Day.

As a result of Secretary LaRose’s groundbreaking poll worker recruitment effort, more than 56,000 Ohioans were trained and ready to serve as poll workers, exceeding the statewide goal that represented 150% of the minimum number of poll workers needed on Election Day.

This number was updated online weekly leading up to the election on Ohio’s first-ever poll worker tracker to encourage recruitment.

“Ohio wouldn’t have had our most successful election ever without the 56,000 patriotic Ohioans who stepped up when our state needed them,” said LaRose.

“This award belongs to each one of them.”

137 local and state programs were submitted to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), with winners selected by two independent panels of election officials from the EAC’s advisory boards.

“The number of Clearie submissions highlights that even though this was a challenging election year, officials continue to modernize and develop programming that will serve as helpful best practices for the coming years,” said EAC Chairman Donald Palmer. 

“The job of an election official is never done, and we hope to see even more submissions and exceptional examples in 2021. The Clearie winners and all election officials should be incredibly proud of the work they did to ensure a successful 2020 election. These best practices are valuable resources as officials continue to administer elections during the pandemic and for years to come.”

Secretary LaRose was one of just four Secretaries of State to win a Clearie, with the rest of the awards going to local boards of elections and elections administrators.