NASS 2026 Summer Conference Highlights

For Immediate Release
July 23, 2026

Washington, DC — The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) concluded its 109th annual Summer Conference, held July 14-17 in Rapid City, South Dakota. The event brought together 26 Secretaries of State, senior staff, and private-sector partners to discuss a broad range of topics, including election administration, business services, information technology, records management, and international relations.

Conference Highlights:

Speakers 

More than 20 speakers highlighted innovative state programs and collaborative approaches to enhance election administration efforts, support businesses, modernize government operations, strengthen cybersecurity, increase public access and transparency, and address emerging challenges.

See the conference agenda for a complete list of speakers and links to presentations.

New NASS Leadership 

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs was sworn in as NASS President, alongside the new NASS Executive Board. View the NASS 2026-2027 leadership release here.

New NASS Executive Director

Dr. Lindsey Forson, formerly NASS Deputy Executive Director, assumed the role of NASS Executive Director, succeeding Leslie Reynolds as part of a planned leadership transition. The membership recognized Reynolds for more than 26 years of dedicated leadership and contributions to the association. Reynolds will remain with NASS as a Senior Advisor through 2027.

National Awards 

The Office of the Connecticut Secretary of the State received the 2026 NASS IDEAS Award, which recognizes innovation and excellence in state programming, for their “Next Gen Elections: College Students Powering the Polls” initiative.

Resolutions 

The membership reauthorized an existing NASS resolution endorsing practices to promote greater uniformity and consistency in the issuance of apostilles.

Corporate Affiliate Issue Papers 

Each year, NASS Corporate Affiliates submit issue papers highlighting relevant topics, trends, and solutions. This summer’s submissions include:                                                     

• BallotDA: From Onboarding to Payment: Improving Temporary Election Worker Payroll Operations
   
• Civic Roundtable: The knowledge deficit: How elections officials can improve information sharing after team departures
   
• Civix: Strengthening Signal Identification in Government Operations
   
• CT Corporation: Service of Process on Business Entities: The Importance of Knowing the Rules
   
• Docusign: Agentic AI and Public Records: Building a Verifiable Trail for the States
   
• MarketForce: The 1st Amendment Right to Petition Electronically Both Eases Citizen Participation and the State Tabulation Burdens Imposed by Wet Signatures
   
• ReFrame Solutions: Before the Mandates Land: Preparing SOS Offices for Business Identity Theft Reform
   
• Tyler Technologies: AI and the New Capacity Challenge for Secretary of State Offices

NOTE: NASS does not endorse issue papers, products, or services offered by corporate affiliates.

###

Media Contact:

NASS Communications
communications@nass.org