COLUMBUS – One week after another successful statewide election, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is taking action to keep Ohio ahead of the curve. Beginning immediately, the Secretary of State’s Office will work with Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections to conduct an After-Action Review (AAR) of the statewide 2022 General Election. This routine AAR, a discipline LaRose has instituted following each election, will focus on evaluating overall performance and identifying opportunities for improvement.
“Our elections officials are the best in the nation, and they once again managed a very successful statewide election last Tuesday, but leadership demands constant improvement,” said LaRose. “After a Buckeye win, Coach Day doesn’t throw his feet up and relax. He gets right back to work reviewing game tape and finding ways to get better. We’re doing the same thing. This is a discipline I learned in the Army, and I believe it’s a critical step in evaluating every mission with a focus on becoming the best we can be. That’s how we keep Ohio’s elections the gold standard.”
A veteran of the U.S. Army, and current member of the U.S. Army Reserve, LaRose began utilizing After-Action Reviews in the Secretary of State’s Office at the outset of his first term in 2019. Past reviews have yielded such important improvements as post-election audit requirements, physical and cyber security enhancements, boosting election night reporting efficiency, and more. According to the U.S. Army, AAR’s “provide a learning-focused method to assess performance and analyze failures or possible improvements to future events.”
While no Ohio counties reported any significant problems with the voting process on November 8, a few counties had isolated equipment issues or longer-than-expected wait times due to higher-than-average ballot content. LaRose plans to work with county boards of elections to assess what can be done to mitigate those issues, upgrade the voter experience, and strengthen confidence in our elections.
“I learned in the military that no operation large or small is complete without an AAR of what happened and what lessons-learned can be captured and actioned to improve performance in the future,” said LaRose. “This is a discipline and a culture change I have instituted in my own Office after every election, and I’ve actively encouraged boards to do AARs now for a few years. I’ve asked my team to assist the boards with the same type of analysis of this election.”
Results of the AAR and recommended best-practices moving forward will be shared as a part of the Summer Election Officials Conference hosted by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office in June.
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