Transform Hawaii Government presents free talk exploring ‘Elections in the Tech Era’

HONOLULU — Transform Hawaii Government (THG) invites the public to a thought-provoking discussion focusing on conducting elections in today’s tech-centric society.

“Elections in the Tech Era,” the latest offering in THG’s free speaker series, will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, from 8 to 9:30 a.m., at Impact Hub Honolulu (1050 Queen St., Honolulu). THG is presenting the event in partnership with the State of Hawaii Office of Elections and House Majority Leader Rep. Della Au Belatti.

“The goal of THG’s new speaker series is to facilitate private-public dialog around key state government transformation efforts, thereby building understanding of major efforts to improve effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility in state government while enhancing how government services, resources and information are provided to the public,” said Christine Sakuda, THG executive director.

This month’s conversation will feature Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago and his team, who will share ways voter registration has been optimized with today’s tech-savvy population in mind, while protecting the integrity of election results.

“We live in a society where the public is accustomed to the convenience and efficiency of online services for a wide variety of purposes,” Nago said. “We look forward to sharing what the State of Hawaii has done to balance engagement as well as make the voter registration process as convenient as possible, with the need to keep core voting functions offline to ensure their security.”

Low voter turnout is often the subject of much debate every election cycle. But with the advent of online and same-day registration, the state now has recorded 726,940 registered voters, an increase of more than 29,000 since 2016.

“We hope interested individuals will take away with them a greater appreciation of how the state can and is driving progress toward modernization and transparency, and how they can get more involved themselves,” said Rep. Belatti.

THG kicked off its speaker series last month with “Roadmap to Transparency: Explore the State of Hawaii’s Online IT Project Dashboard,” featuring State of Hawaii Chief Information Officer (CIO) Todd Nacapuy.” Nacapuy shared information about the award-winning Hawaii Department Dashboard, which tracks more than 400 IT projects statewide. The event was presented in partnership with the CIO-led Office of Enterprise Technology Services and Rep. Mark Nakashima.

The deadline to register is Sept. 4. Space is limited, so interested individuals are encouraged to register early to reserve their seats. For more information or to reserve a seat, visit transformhawaiigov.org.

Transform Hawaii Government is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established to promote an open, transparent, and responsive Hawaii government. THG advocates improving government business practices through technology to ensure government employees, residents and businesses have convenient and secure access to reliable information and data on demand. THG’s goal is government services that are streamlined, integrated, and delivered in ways that exceed the expectations of the public and the needs of Hawaii’s businesses.