MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Board of Elections launched its redesigned website today. More significantly, it has a new .gov url and email address.
The new url is http://boe.knoxcounty.oh.gov.
County IT Director Kyle Webb said the reason for the new site is twofold: security and readability.
“We wanted to make something easier to access for the community, plus with some of the new regulations from the state, we have to be able to monitor the website separate from the main county site,” he said. “This is part of the movement to instill trust in the election process.”
Webb said that in the past, issues arose in other jurisdictions when people created their own BOE page or used gmail or other email services. Constituents were not sure whether the information came from a legitimate source and might have received wrong information.
“The .gov can only come from the state or federal government. It’s a certain level of security. This makes sure that all of the information you are getting from the board of elections is accurate and you can trust it,” he said. “Part of the whole movement is not only protecting things on our site … but it’s also helping the people know that we are looking to make sure everything is legitimate and build trust and confidence with the community.”
Webb said the redesign also improves accessibility and finding information.
“Now if you’re accessing the site on a phone or tablet, you can easily get to where you want. It’s all in front of you,” he said.
In addition to compatibility with communication devices, the new site also works well with a screen reader for the visually impaired.
Although BOEs have been moving to improve cybersecurity for a while now, a directive from Frank LaRose, Ohio Secretary of State, set the end of August as a target date for switching to the .gov designation. Knox County was ready last week, and the state approved the new site yesterday.
