Thomas Bride, Executive Director for City of Peoria, Peoria Board of Election Commissioners, was designated as a Certified Elections/Registration Administrator (CERA), the highest professional achievement, in ceremonies conducted by the Election Center at the Westin on the Riverwalk Hotel, San Antonio, TX, at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, August 19, 2011.

CERA designation is achieved only through a multi-year course of study conducted by The Election Center’s Professional Education Program and completion of twelve core courses taught by the Master’s in Public Administration faculty of Auburn University (Auburn, Alabama) ranging from ethics, to voter registration and elections law, planning, communications, and voter participation, among others. The intent of the program is to professionalize the management of voter registration and elections administration in promoting and preserving public trust in the democratic process.

“This is the highest designation available to elections and voter registration officials,” said R. Doug Lewis, director of the Center. “Of more than 21,000 elections and voter registration officials throughout America, this graduating class of 88 professionals takes us to 677 election officials who have achieved the CERA status. This is an outstanding accomplishment.”

“The City of Peoria is indeed fortunate to have Mr. Bride as one of the top designated professionals in America. Obtaining and maintaining CERA status means that he has committed to a career long process of continuing education to improve the electoral process in (state) and the nation,” he stated.

“These truly are the people who make democracy possible,” Lewis said. “Mr. Bride and other CERA professionals serve as the nation’s protectors of the democratic process. Because of them, Americans have a trust and public confidence in the election process. They have assurance that the system is fair, free, honest and accurate. In many parts of the world, their citizens have no faith in the form of democracy offered in their home countries. The importance of what Mr. Bride is doing for Peoria is incredible but rarely noticed…unless something goes wrong.”

Mr. Bride, an elections official for six years, said “This is one of the most challenging education programs I have ever participated in. We covered the law, and ethical considerations in how to better serve the public. We also became more aware of how important it is to nurture and care for the democratic process.”

“It is my great honor to ensure the public’s will is accurately reflected in our elections,” Bride, said. “I see my role to dignify all potential voters and to remove as many barriers as possible to participation in the democratic process. Our office cannot be responsible for how many actually turn out for each election, but we can certainly be sure they have the opportunity to vote and have their votes counted accurately.”