| MOST POPULAR The Real Loser in the Election? Social Media
While things seem to be pointing in the direction of former Vice President Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, GT columnist Daniel Castro and his colleague Ellysse Dick of the ITIF assert that when all is said and done, social media will be in the crosshairs, accused of doing either too much or too little in the name of combatting misinformation. “When social media platforms are turned into political punching bags, they are forced to prioritize the demands of the prevailing political winds rather than the needs of their users,” the authors say. Don’t Leave CARES Money Unspent
It’s not often that federal coffers open up and flow toward state and local governments, but 2020’s CARES Act is doing just that. Wouldn’t it be a shame then if those funds go unused? With the end-of-year deadline fast approaching, two GT contributors offer tips on how to make the most of this injection of federal funds. COVID or Not, New ERP for Iowa
The time had come for Iowa to update one of the most central technological underpinnings of state government: its ERP. Not only was it hard to find programmers with COBOL skills, the state’s previous system was inefficient and lacked the transparency the state needed in order to move more nimbly. GT’s Jed Pressgrove (https://www.govtech.com/authors/Jed-Pressgrove.html) talked to state officials, including state CIO Annette Dunn, on why and how they made the switch. Editor’s Choice: States Are Where the Action Is
The nation is getting a closer-than-usual look at the work done by government elections officials this month as the counting of ballots persists in many battleground states. But even outside of Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, state efforts to modernize their technology in service of citizens continue. See how each state fared in the recently-released 2020 Digital States Survey, where GT editorial staff analyze progress one state at a time. | 
