--- title: "The network behind Philadelphia’s Election Day" url: "https://cradlepoint.ericsson.com/customer-stories/the-network-behind-philadelphias-election-day/" description: "See how the City of Philadelphia uses Ericsson Cradlepoint routers and NetCloud to keep 3,500 electronic poll books connected across nearly 700 polling locations." content_type: "page" breadcrumb: "[Home](https://cradlepoint.ericsson.com/) › [Proof Center](https://cradlepoint.ericsson.com/proof-center/) › Customer Stories › The network behind philadelphias election day" gated: false --- # The network behind Philadelphia’s Election Day ## How the City of Philadelphia uses Ericsson Cradlepoint routers and NetCloud to keep thousands of electronic poll books connected across nearly 700 polling locations ### Success story highlights #### Challenge The City of Philadelphia runs every election for roughly 1.1 million registered voters across 1,703 precincts and nearly 700 polling locations. New electronic poll books needed a reliable local network at each site to stay in sync, along with a way to manage hundreds of devices at once and secure them on a strict deadline before polls opened. #### Solution Working with partner PMC Wireless, the city deployed Ericsson Cradlepoint routers in custom weatherproof enclosures, managed centrally through Ericsson NetCloud. From a single dashboard, the team pushes morning updates to every location, then restricts outside network access while keeping each local network live so poll books can communicate throughout the day. #### Benefits Centralized network management keeps electronic poll books connected throughout the voting day, gives election officials visibility into ballot transportation and lets them update and monitor more than 1,000 routers from a single dashboard. Faster digital check-in also helps keep lines moving at polling locations across the city. ### Background and challenges The City of Philadelphia City Commissioners' Office is responsible for running every election in the city. With roughly 1.3 million residents and about 1.1 million registered voters, its operation spans 1,703 voting precincts that combine into nearly 700 polling locations. That number shifts slightly from one election to the next as sites are merged or added. The move to wireless began when the office adopted electronic poll books. Every precinct needs two poll books, adding up to roughly 3,500 devices across the city, and a single wireless router can serve up to ten of them. The poll books communicate with one another so that a voter who checks in at one location cannot check in again somewhere else. That requires a stable local network at every site from the moment polls open until they close. State law adds a demanding requirement. Poll books are updated with the latest voter file on the morning of an election, and then all outside network access has to be switched off for the rest of the day while the local network stays live. Doing this manually across hundreds of devices within the narrow window before polls open is not practical. The city needed a way to reach every device at once, on a strict schedule, without interrupting the local networks during voting hours. ### Solution The election network is built around Cradlepoint routers from Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions, integrated by partner PMC Wireless and managed through the Ericsson NetCloud platform. Each router is embedded in a weatherproof enclosure that PMC designs to the city's specifications. Once deployed, the network can be managed through NetCloud from a single dashboard. On the morning of an election, the team pushes the final poll book updates to every site, then sends a set of firewall commands that close off outside access while the local networks stay online. NetCloud maintains full visibility throughout the day, allowing staff to see what is connected, confirm the right poll books are online and step in the moment something looks wrong. "NetCloud gives me the ability to touch every one of my routers all at once when I need to, and it gives me the ability to make sure I have eyes on things that are moving throughout the day." Jeff Venziale, IT Director, City of Philadelphia City Commissioners’ Office The routers give the IT team familiar command-line controls, including firewall rules, virtual private networks (VPNs) and media access control (MAC) address filtering. Those capabilities are built into a device small enough to mount on a voting machine or move between vehicles. The team has been able to share with the state the additional security the routers provide, strengthening the case for expanded capabilities over time. Custom scripts written through the NetCloud interface pull the data the city needs into its dashboards. The same feed connects to its geographic information system (GIS) mapping and ticketing system, bringing network information into a single view. ![Polling center](https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt2588e757607604a2/blt417b30179f00c081/6aba96c6d89724996b09a6de/Philadelphia_pollbox.jpg) "The cybersecurity that you get through a Cradlepoint router is hands down the best that’s out there." Vnnie Kerney, Director of Solution Sales, PMC Wireless The same network extends to the vehicles that move the ballots. Roughly 140 police officers collect election materials, physical ballots, USB drives and poll books from polling locations across the city and bring them back to the warehouse. A fleet of 73 roving support cars covers issues in the field on election day. Because many of these are rental vehicles, PMC created a portable version of its enclosure that is powered from the vehicle’s auxiliary power outlet and moves easily from car to car. Every router includes GPS, even those installed at fixed locations, allowing equipment to be plotted on a map, pickup times to be monitored and expected return times to be tracked. That location data travels with the physical ballots, giving Philadelphia election officials visibility into ballot transportation and chain of custody that they did not have before. Surveillance cameras on ballot drop boxes also run over the same network. PMC handles the hands-on work throughout the year. Its team staffs a network operations center at the office’s headquarters, writes and loads custom configurations and monitors every device on Election Day from a dashboard displayed on a large screen so everyone in the room sees the same picture. In the weeks before an election, the partners test every poll book and every enclosure, repair or replace anything damaged in transport and update site descriptions as polling locations change. On election morning, they turn everything on, push the last updates and confirm every device is live before the first vote is cast. "Having the ability to know specifically the X and the Y coordinates from the devices that are traveling with the physical ballots from each one of these poll locations is really important. It’s something we haven’t been able to do until now." Jeff Venziale, IT Director, City of Philadelphia City Commissioners’ Office ### Outcomes Across recent election cycles, centralized connectivity has transformed a large and time-sensitive operation into one that can be seen, managed and accounted for end to end. #### Faster results Unofficial counts now come together within three to four days, with the election on Tuesday and results in hand by that Friday. #### A clear chain of custody GPS tracking gives commissioners visibility into where ballots and equipment have been, providing records that can help answer questions about election integrity and chain of custody. #### A smoother day at the polls Digital check-in replaced flipping through paper poll books, helping voters move through the process faster and reducing lines before polls close. Older poll workers and voters took to it easily. #### Control from one screen What once meant reaching hundreds of devices one by one now happens from a single dashboard, allowing the team to update, secure and check every unit within the narrow window before polls open. 1,703 voting precincts across the city 3,500 electronic poll books kept in sync 1,000+ Ericsson routers deployed citywide A multi-year refresh is now underway, upgrading routers to the latest 5G-capable generation and replacing roughly 200 devices a year to keep the fleet current. The next goal is to maintain connectivity throughout Election Day. That capability currently depends on state certification rather than the technology itself, and achieving it could cut another day or two from the time required to finalize results. Longer term, connectivity could be integrated directly into voting machines. The approach has already expanded beyond Philadelphia. More than 3,000 devices are now deployed across all 22 counties in New Jersey, with additional work underway in Ohio and West Virginia. The City of Philadelphia does not endorse specific technology vendors; this case study is provided to illustrate operational processes. ### Let's discuss a customized solution for your agency [Connect with us](/about/contact-us) ## Additional resources [https://cradlepoint.ericsson.com/resources/elections/checklist-elections-it-readiness/](https://cradlepoint.ericsson.com/resources/elections/checklist-elections-it-readiness/) - Checklist: Elections IT readiness [https://cradlepoint.ericsson.com/resources/elections/la-county-registrar-casts-vote-for-secure-transparent-cellular-networking-solutions/](https://cradlepoint.ericsson.com/resources/elections/la-county-registrar-casts-vote-for-secure-transparent-cellular-networking-solutions/) - L.A. 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