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Aaron Wilson, the founder and CEO of Enhanced Voting, aims to empower election officials across the United States.
His Florida-based company has ensured secure, accessible and inclusive voting experiences since 2013.
Wilson’s passion for innovation led to the development of secure electronic ballot delivery for overseas military and civilians and accessible vote-by-mail solutions for voters with disabilities. The state-of-the-art electronic ballot delivery and technology solutions established by Wilson have been utilized in states nationwide.
“Paper ballots are difficult for voters with disabilities, particularly those without use of their hands, who have dexterity problems, are blind or have other disabilities,” Wilson said. “Our system allows them to use the same assistive technology they have at home, like screen readers and other technology, to obtain their blank ballot, mark it, print it and return it.”
The system also helps military and overseas voters who have traditionally had difficulty accessing ballots because of the logistics of getting them to voting locations back in the U.S.
“Traditionally, those ballots go through foreign postal services, which can result in delays or other issues,” Wilson explained. “Now, military and overseas voters can access a system like ours electronically.”
The Pensacola, Florida, native learned early in his career that elections are administered differently from state to state, and that is both the beauty and challenge of election technology.
“Elections are administrated at the state level with unique state laws. Users at the local level have unique tendencies and preferences,” Wilson explained. “Initially, I wrote this software for military and overseas voters and then expanded it to accessible vote-by-mail a few years later as that trend began to grow and voters with disabilities found the need to access their ballot online.”
Wilson and his Enhanced Voting team have created additional solutions to assist election administrators in the past few years, including a results management system and vote-by-mail ballot tracking solution.
Thanks to Wilson’s cutting-edge system, states nationwide have embraced enhanced voting experiences. Enhanced Voting technology is currently used in 22 states.
“I am passionate about using technology to solve human problems and I believe there is a place for it in our election administration when done properly,” Wilson said. “Elections are a complex operation serving a broad spectrum of the population. We must provide high levels of security and accessibility while providing flexibility for our users.”
Wilson graduated magna cum laude in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from Florida State University and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, and later earned a Master of Science degree in software engineering from the University of North Florida.
“The joint College of Engineering was really the launch point for me,” Wilson said. “While in college, I also worked in the Secretary of State’s office. What I learned while studying engineering and working in the Florida Division of Elections still helps me today.”
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