The report "Fostering Resilient Elections: Opportunities for Stronger Election Administration and Emergency Management Collaboration" (September 2025), published by the Center for Tech and Civic Life, is a timely and insightful contribution to one of democracy's most urgent challenges: how to keep elections running when calamity strikes.
Drawing from consultations with election officials and emergency managers across 24 U.S. states, the paper offers a grounded, nonpartisan roadmap for strengthening preparedness, coordination, and trust between two vital sectors that often meet for the first time—literally—“in the middle of a hurricane.”
The authors deserve high praise for addressing a clear and current concern, and for presenting a practical, systems-level approach to election resilience. They show that while emergency managers focus on life safety and infrastructure, and election administrators focus on access and integrity, both share a common mission: continuity under pressure.
The report’s step-by-step recommendations—from integrated planning and crisis communication protocols to joint tabletop exercises and continuity-of-operations plans—illustrate a mature understanding of how electoral systems must evolve in an age of compounding risk. The report also stands out for its clarity on the cultural and operational gap between the two professions.
As it notes, election officials operate under rigid legal deadlines that cannot be postponed even during natural disasters, while emergency managers are trained for flexible, all-hazards response. By encouraging year-round engagement, shared situational awareness, and a unified “language of resilience,” the paper helps bridge this divide with actionable realism rather than abstract theory.
The paper is a vital step toward institutionalizing the principle that the vote must go on—no matter the storm, the fire, or the flood. It reminds us that democratic continuity, like emergency management, depends on foresight, not reaction.
And now, the call to action is ours. Election administrators everywhere should read this report, pick up the phone, and reach out to their emergency management counterparts. Start the conversation, build the relationship, and plan together—even if the sky is clear today. Because the time to strengthen elections is not when the storm arrives, but long before it forms.
