The State of Rhode Island has a proud history of sharing ideas with the rest of the country, and this holds true for elections as well. The Engineering for Democracy Institute (EDI) is housed at the University of Rhode Island, the state’s flagship public research and land-grant university. Since 2017, EDI has served as a national leader in implementing engineering strategies and tools that enable data-driven solutions for election officials nationwide. EDI’s mission is to support free, fair, and efficient elections for all by developing, distributing, and supporting data that improves the democratic process.
After experiencing long lines in the 2016 general election, the Rhode Island Secretary of State turned to URI in 2017 to understand how industrial and systems engineering techniques could be applied to elections. This was the beginning of EDI, which evolved from the work of Rhode Island Voter OperaTions & Election Systems (URI VOTES).
Engineering for Democracy through the Years
