The nonprofit Results for America has recognized eight states – Colorado, Minnesota, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, Utah, and Connecticut – for their achievements in using data-driven and evidence-based policymaking to “accelerate economic mobility, advance equity, and deliver better results for their residents.”

In a bid to increase access to state services, as well as save residents time and money, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has launched the Colorado Digital Government Strategic Plan.

State and local governments hold a vast amount of personally identifiable information about their residents and these databases have become attractive targets for cyberattacks, therefore state and local governments have made various efforts to put in place security processes to protect their systems and data, according to Yvette Florez, the director of identity and access management for the State of Colorado.

The State of Colorado’s new Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Ray Yepes is urging all state and local governments (SLGs) to develop a threat intelligence program to stay one step ahead of cyber adversaries.

Organizations of all sizes had to adapt operations at the onset of the pandemic – and for many local governments, the rapid transition to virtual service delivery for its residents was a steep hill to climb. But the City and County of Denver was already on a path towards more flexible, agile service delivery, easing the incline when the pandemic hit.

With the 2020 General Election a mere eight weeks away, election officials at both the state and Federal level are preparing for the final sprint to Nov. 3.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced Sept. 16 that the state will remove QR (a type of matrix barcode) codes from its ballots ahead of the 2020 general election. The state said removal of QR codes will strengthen the security of vote tabulation and ensure that voters are able to accurately verify that their ballots are correctly marked.

The City and County of Denver, Colorado improved vendor risk assessments and cut evaluation time by more than three times using a digital workflow. Julie Sutton, Denver’s Information Security Manager, shared their success and insights at ServiceNow’s Knowledge 2019 conference.

David McCurdy, Chief Technology Officer for the state of Colorado, hailed as a “major success” the state’s year-long effort to overhaul its Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) by migrating the system to AWS.

With new governors taking office across the country after the 2018 midterm elections, state IT departments are seeing new and familiar faces take the helm.