Secretary of State offices in Delaware, Nevada and North Carolina also recognized as national finalists

WASHINGTON, DC--The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), holding its annual summer meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, today honored the Office of the Nebraska Secretary of State with the first-ever IDEAS Award. The national award recognizes innovation, dedication, excellence and achievement in service in state member programming, as well as significant contributions to the mission of NASS.  Secretary of State offices in Delaware, Nevada and North Carolina were also recognized for their national finalist submissions.

"This inaugural group of NASS IDEAS Award honorees represents the best in quality programming and services that are offered by Secretary of State offices throughout the nation, while also highlighting the diversity of functions within each member office," noted NASS President Beth Chapman of Alabama.  "We had a tremendous amount of member interest in this award, and we are grateful to Nebraska and all of the other state member offices that have pioneered the great ideas that will fuel this popular new awards program."

NASS members voted to select the Office of the Nebraska Secretary of State as the 2012 IDEAS Award recipient for its creation of a state tracking and email notification system for proposed rules/regulations, a cross-agency application that has yielded significant results in government economy through operational time savings in many areas.

"The Nebraska Secretary of State's office has brought the legal process of creating, amending and repealing regulations into the 21st century with the Rules and Regulations Online Application," said Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale. "In a process where months, even years, can go by before a proposed regulation completes the process of adoption, following up on every proposal manually could be challenging. Now, the three agency administrators involved in the regulation adoption process have a tool that will accomplish this for them."

The online application was developed in partnership with Nebraska Interactive, LLC, using the self-funding model.  Nebraska Interactive, part of NIC’s family of companies, is the official eGovernment solutions provider for the State of Nebraska.

During today's association awards ceremony in San Juan, NASS Awards Committee Co-Chair Al Jaeger of North Dakota presented the 2012 NASS IDEAS Award to Colleen Byelick, general counsel for the Office of the Nebraska Secretary of State.  Delaware Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock and Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller also received finalist certificates on behalf of their respective states.

Delaware's IDEAS Award finalist submission highlighted the Secretary of State's popular YouTube video series entitled, "Going Inside the Delaware Archives," which was designed to educate the public about the state archives and its important cultural and historical holdings.

Nevada's IDEAS Award finalist submission showcased the Nevada Election Integrity Task Force, a multi-jurisdictional partnership created by the Office of the Nevada Secretary of State to target and deal with or eliminate election fraud, voter intimidation and other election-related violations.

North Carolina's IDEAS Award finalist submission focused on the Secretary of State's cutting-edge electronic commerce initiative, which has advanced the use of electronic signatures, electronic notarization and electronic recording by all entities conducting business in the state.

This year's NASS summer conference will offer a special state shared practices panel featuring the top IDEAS Award programs on Monday, July 16.

About NASS

Founded in 1904, the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) is the oldest nonpartisan, professional association of public officials in the United States.  Members include the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa and Puerto Rico.

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