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When the next emergency disrupts an election, we’re ready together.
PEER is a national partnership connecting election officials and emergency managers to plan, coordinate, and respond as one — so voting continues through all hazards.
Two fields, one mission: voting that holds through anything.
It is not a question of if an emergency will strike during an election — only how and when. PEER exists to make sure election officials and emergency managers know each other, plan together, and act in step before that moment arrives.
To build resilient elections by developing and fostering partnerships and proactive engagement between election officials and emergency managers, ensuring every community is prepared for all hazards and disruptions before, during, and after the voting process.
Every election is protected, and every voter’s voice is heard, through strong, proactive partnerships and integrated planning between election officials, emergency managers, and communities.
A 2025 survey of local election officials found that only 43% of jurisdictions coordinated with emergency response agencies for the 2024 election cycle. The September 2025 Fostering Resilient Elections report draws on that finding and maps where the two fields can work together.
PEER closes that gap. We build the relationships, shared language, and joint plans that let both fields respond together when a crisis lands on or near an election — rather than meeting each other for the first time in the middle of a crisis.
PEER is dedicated to raising situational awareness and providing actionable tools to jurisdictions of all sizes. Rather than producing reports that sit on a shelf, we convene the right people to do real work together:
- Map the landscape — surface the operational challenges where elections and emergency management intersect.
- Generate solutions — turn shared problems into concrete ideas and tools partners can use.
- Commit teams — cultivate working partnerships between election and emergency management professionals.
PEER grew out of a national convening in Chicago in April 2026, where roughly 35 election officials, emergency managers, and supporting partners spent a day and a half mapping challenges and committing to shared work.
The work was grounded in the Hurricane Helene response across Western North Carolina in late 2024 — a stark, recent example of what proactive partnership between the two fields makes possible.
The partners behind PEER.
PEER is championed by elections and emergency management leaders committed to ensuring every community is prepared for all hazards and disruptions before, during, and after the voting process.
Karen founded PEER to connect elections and emergency management before the next crisis lands. She draws on her experience as North Carolina’s former state elections director, including the response to Hurricane Helene.
The case for partnership, in the field’s own words.
First-hand accounts and reporting that make the case for closer collaboration between elections and emergency management.
Tools and reading to ground the work.
Start here. We’ll add PEER’s own guides and templates as priority teams publish them.
The Elections and Emergency Management Playbook
A comprehensive playbook for election administrators and emergency managers. It establishes a framework for partnership across several key pillars, in a modular format:
- Shared language — both sectors understand each other’s technical terminology and operating concepts.
- Integrated calendars — treating elections as a year-round season with immovable statutory deadlines, not just Election Day.
- Clarified authority — documenting roles and responsibilities during planning to prevent confusion during a fast-moving incident.
- Resource access — helping election officials leverage the federal critical infrastructure designation to reach funding and protection resources.
More tools coming this year
In the coming year, PEER anticipates releasing an array of resources, including co-branded work with the Election Security Exchange on preparing for and responding to security incidents. All are meant to make emergency preparedness a standard part of election excellence. These include:
- Emergency readiness self-assessment tools
- Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) templates
- Crisis communication plan frameworks
- Polling place emergency response quick guides
- Exercises and guidance to build working groups across the sectors
Join a working team.
For officials, managers & partners
PEER’s work happens in small, committed teams advancing priority challenges. Reach out to learn where you can plug in.