In the News
Plan Together, Respond Together: A tool for building your Continuity and Operational Readiness in Elections (CORE) Playbook
(September 3, 2026) “If the first time you are talking to your emergency manager is when a disaster hits, you are too late. Building a strong relationship with your emergency management counterpart is not optional. It is fundamental to creating resilient elections,” frames this electionline Weekly article about the new tool created by Advance Elections and Partnership for Elections and Emergency Response (PEER) with other partners Denver Elections Division, Denver Office of Emergency Management, Local Policy Lab (a program of the National Civic League), and Ready for Tuesday.
Introducing the CORE Playbook: Continuity & Operational Readiness for Elections
(August 27, 2026) When it comes to safeguarding our democratic processes, collaboration is our strongest asset. That is why a group of organizations has teamed up to launch the CORE Playbook: Continuity & Operational Readiness for Elections.
The CORE Playbook provides a modular, scalable framework to formalize vital partnerships between election officials and emergency management teams. It offers a flexible approach to help professionals think about preparedness. By adopting an all-hazards, risk-informed philosophy, the playbook ensures local collaborative teams cover all bases before, during, and after each election cycle.
Main areas covered include:
Strategic Coordination: Roles, responsibilities, and local/county/state structures.
Operational Planning: Incident Action Plans (IAPs), calendars, and timelines.
Crisis Resilience: Election-specific hazards and communication management maps.
Want to learn more? Please join the partner organizations for an interactive webinar on how to use the playbook on Thursday, Sept. 3 at Noon ET/10 AM MT - Register here
You can also access the playbook from the partner organizations: Partnership for Elections and Emergency Response (PEER)/Advanced Elections/Ready for Tuesday; City and County of Denver, Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, Denver Elections Division; and Local Policy Lab/National Civic League
Hockenberry Joins Advance Elections
(August 3, 2026) Casandra Hockenberry has joined Advance Elections LLC, as Program and Policy Director. Her primary focus will be guiding Partnership for Elections and Emergency Response (PEER), an initiative headed by Advance Elections to connectelection officials and emergency managers to plan, coordinate, and respond as one, so voting continues through all hazards. READ PRESS RELEASE
Counties urged to make election safety, security and readiness shared work
(July 19, 2026) County officials heard a consistent message Saturday at an educational summit on election administration ahead of the 2026 midterms: safety, security and disaster readiness can no longer be siloed in separate departments. READ MORE
Not If, But When: New National Partnership Launches to Ready Elections Against Disruption
(June 18, 2026) As both natural and manmade disasters increasingly disruptthe voting process and election cycle, a new national initiative has been launched to bridge the critical gap between election administration and emergency management. FULL ARTICLE
Thrown-out ballots and map confusion: Voters are losing the redistricting battle
(May 14, 2026) “The biggest impact on voters is confusion,” Advance Elections’ Chris Piper said in this NPR article that featured both Piper and fellow AE co-founder, Karen Brinson Bell. READ MORE
Five Things Election Offices Can Do Now to Prepare for Emergencies
(Spring 2026) Karen Brinson Bell co-authored this practical article for Counted magazine to guide election officials through preparations for a disruption in the election cycle and how to ensure voting continues. CHECK OUT COUNTED
Two reminders that the rules of the 2026 election are still in flux
(May 11, 2026) “In order to make those changes, it takes quite a lot of work,” Piper said of the recent redistricting court decisions and how election administrators adjust to the changes. FULL ARTICLE
Elections officials decry costs heaped on states in SAVE America voting bill
(March 17, 2026) News from the States article: “I cannot emphasize enough the Herculean effort that the SAVE America Act would present for election officials across this country,” Brinson Bell, who now advises election officials as a co-founder of the group Advance Elections, said. “Please do not set our country or these public servants up for failure. Bring us to the table. Develop this legislation properly and provide adequate funding and resources so we can all succeed.” READ MORE
Testimony of Karen Brinson Bell Before Congressional Committee on House Administration
(February 10, 2026) “Election officials have a simple request of Congress, that you help share their burdens, not add to them. The bill under discussion today does not meet that simple test,” said Advance Elections’ Karen Brinson Bell before the Committee on House Administration. READ FULL TESTIMONY, WATCH RECORDING, or read news reports from CYBERSCOOP and DEMOCRACY DOCKET quoting Brinson Bell.
Meet the Faces of Democracy: Karen Brinson Bell
(December 22, 2025) North Carolina’s former chief election official, Advance Elections’ Karen Brinson Bell, discusses running elections amid hurricanes and her love of NC State sports and travel. READ THE INTERVIEW WITH ISSUE ONE
What States Can Do to Build Public Trust in Elections
(October 31, 2025) Advance Elections’ Karen Brinson Bell, interviewed by Governing.com: “In some ways, it’s not surprising that elections are fraught. The complexity of election processes can set the stage for misunderstanding, says Karen Brinson Bell, North Carolina’s chief election official from 2019 to 2025. ‘We’ve become a society that lives for sound bites and short snippets to explain things,’ she says. Sometimes, those short explanations can be misleading.” READ MORE
2025 Virginia Voter Guide & Behind the Ballot: An Inside Look Into Virginia Elections
(October 28, 2025) The 2025 Virginia Voter Guide was published by Cardinal News in partnership with Keep Our Republic. Additionally, a video interview with three registrars was produced. Advance Elections’ Chris Piper helped coordinate this effort. READ MORE & VIEW VIDEO
Va. registrars share how they keep rolls accurate, reflect on their role in the democratic process
(October 27, 2025) The Virginia Mercury and civic education nonprofit Keep Our Republic released as video series on the experiences of election workers from around Virginia with the help of Advance Elections’ Chris Piper. READ THE ARTICLE and view the videos.
Fostering Resilient Elections
A New Report on Strengthening Preparedness and Collaboration
By Andrea Byrne (Center for Tech and Civic Life Cybersecurity Advisor), Karen Brinson Bell (Advance Elections), Carolina Lopez (Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions) and TJ Pyche (The Elections Group)
Emergencies don’t wait for ballots to be counted. Natural disasters, cyber incidents, and infrastructure failures can strike at any point in the election cycle, disrupting operations, jeopardizing voter access, and undermining public confidence.
A new report from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, Fostering Resilient Elections: Opportunities for Stronger Election Administration and Emergency Management Collaboration, highlights how election officials and emergency managers can build stronger partnerships to safeguard elections in the face of disruption.
Read the rest of the article here.
Brinson Bell pens Op-Ed with Former Director of the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management on Importance of Election Officials Partnering with Emergency Management Professionals to Prepare for All Hazards
(October 8, 2025) - North Carolina recently recognized the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene. While it’s a moment to reflect on the state’s preparedness in the face of such a disaster, it’s also an opportunity to consider what happens when another storm hits, particularly during an election.
You can read the entire op-ed here.
Advance Elections’ Brinson Bell Panelist on Votebeat’s Public Trust in Elections Webinar
(September 19, 2025) - Votebeat hosted a Public Trust in Elections webinar with election expert and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Charles Stewart; Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein; and Karen Brinson Bell, Advance Elections Principle and Co-Founder, to talk about the factors that drive trust in elections. The conversation and online forum were moderated by Votebeat Editorial Director Jessica Huseman. You can watch the recording here.
Nearly a year after Helene, former NC elections director testifies about preparing for disaster
Washington, DC (September 16, 2025) - Advance Elections’ Principle and Co-Founder, Karen Brinson Bell told a subcommittee of the Committee on House Administration that preparation and close work with North Carolina Emergency Management and FEMA were key to moving obstacles out of the way of voters. The subcommittee hearing was on running elections in the face of natural disasters. READ MORE
Brinson Bell and Piper Launch Advance Elections
Richmond, VA; Raleigh, NC (September 3, 2025) – Advance Elections, LLC, a new partnership between former chief election officials, Karen Brinson Bell of North Carolina and Chris Piper of Virginia, recently launched to provide services and support to election jurisdictions across the country, particularly focused on cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and emergency response and resiliency. READ MORE