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Democracy Live

Website:

democracylive.com/
Location:

Seattle, WA
Formation:

2007
Type:

Election Technologies Firm

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Democracy Live is a political technology firm that provides cloud servers and tablets to election jurisdictions. It is the largest provider of election technologies in the United States, having had its services used in 4,000 elections for 20 million voters in 2,500 jurisdictions across 29 states. 1

It has partnerships with Amazon and Microsoft for their cloud and tablet products. Democracy Live’s major program is the OmniBallot Portal, a remote electronic ballot platform for absentee voters. 2

Background

Democracy Live is a political technology development firm founded in 2007 that provides technologies primarily to election offices for balloting. It is the largest provider of election technologies in the United States, having had its services used in 4,000 elections for 20 million voters in 2,500 jurisdictions across 29 states. 3

Democracy Live has been chosen as an official remote-balloting portal by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the State Department. It has been reviewed and certified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as well as “over 100 cybersecurity researchers” according to its webpage. Democracy Live was awarded the “2019 Accessibility in Voting Award” by the United Nations. 4 It is a founding member of the DHS-sponsored Elections Coordinating Council. 5

Products

OmniBallot Portal

Democracy Live’s flagship program is the OmniBallot Portal, a remote electronic ballot platform for absentee voters. 6 It is hosted by Amazon’s cloud service AWS, which was certified by FedRamp, a U.S. federal government certification. This certification has allowed DHS, the DOD, the National Security Agency (NSA), and many other federal security and intelligence agencies to use AWS in the past. 7 Each voter’s selections on the OmniBallot Portal are stored in AWS via AWS Object Lock. 8 According to OmniBallot’s “flyer,” it has been used in over 4,000 elections in 26 states and is “trusted” by over 2,500 election jurisdictions in the United States. Democracy Live bills itself as “easy to set-up” and the “most proven and deployed balloting portal in North America.” 9

LiveBallot

Democracy Live’s other major product is LiveBallot, an “interactive, shareable digital ballot” that helps voters “prepare to vote.” The tool can be embedded on websites, shared by users, and allows “organizations a powerful way” to increase their “political impact at the polls.” 10 It provides users with “research” on political candidates and issues, allows them to “mark and save” their votes before voting day and share their ballot information with “friends, family and followers” as well as see how their family, friends, and organizations vote. 11

Funding

Democracy Live received funding from the federal government for its services to the Department of Defense and the State Department. It also has been awarded funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Elections Assistance Commission for its work in providing services to disabled voters. 12

Leadership

Democracy Live’s founder and president is Bryan Finney. Finney was involved in voting technology as early as the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. He is a founding member of the DHS-sponsored Elections Sector Executive Committee and is the chair of the DHS-sponsored Elections Sector Emergency Response Group. 13 14 He has spoken before Congress and the United Nations on election security and accessibility. 15

Joe Brotherton is the chair of Democracy Live’s board. He and his wife are the co-founders of the Teens in Public Service nonprofit organization. 16

References

  1. “Our Company.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-company/.
  2. “OmniBallot Portal.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/omniballot-portal/.
  3. “Our Company.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-company/.
  4. “Our Company.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-company/.
  5. “Our Company.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-company/.
  6. “OmniBallot Portal.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/omniballot-portal/.
  7. “OmniBallot Portal.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/omniballot-portal/.
  8. “OmniBallot Portal.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/omniballot-portal/.
  9. “OmniBallot Portal Flyer.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/OmniBallot-Portal-Democracy-Live_1.17.22.jpg.
  10. “Our Products.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-products/.
  11. “LiveBallot.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/live-ballot/.
  12. “Our Company.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-company/.
  13. “Our Team.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-team/.
  14. “Felicia Erlich Altman.” The Org.com. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://theorg.com/org/democracy-live/org-chart/felicia-erlich-altman.
  15. “Our Team.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-team/.
  16. “Our Team.” Democracy Live. Accessed October 31, 2022. https://democracylive.com/our-team/.
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Democracy Live

2900 NE Blakeley St.
Seattle, WA 98105