Yesterday's Government Technology magazine featured this story reporting on Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman's support for an all-paper ballot election in his state this year. Colorado joins California, New Mexico and Florida among the states that are severely limiting use of electronic voting machines in this presidential election year. Excerpts from yesterday's story are below.
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Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman last week announced his recommendation to the Legislature for a polling place election using paper ballots for the 2008 presidential election.
"I have more confidence in having votes cast on paper ballots at the polls rather than relying exclusively on electronic voting machines or in voting by mail. If Douglas County had paper ballots available for voters at their vote centers in the 2006 mid-term election they would not have the distinction of having the last vote cast in the country sometime after 1:00 am on the following day." said Coffman.
According to Coffman, the Legislature needs to remember that federal law still requires that at least one handicapped accessible electronic voting machine be made available in every voting location. If Colorado holds an all mail ballot general election, then at least one of these machines still will be required at every place in the county that voters are allowed to drop off ballots. "No matter how the Legislature ultimately decides to conduct the election, we will still need some electronic voting machines," Coffman stated.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Thursday, December 20, 2007
CVF's new online voter guide for Feb. 5 election debuts!
With California's presidential primary election just six weeks away, today the California Voter Foundation released its 2008 California Online Voter Guide, a nonpartisan Internet resource to help Californians get ready to vote.
California is the largest of 22 states that will be voting on nominees for president on February 5, which has been dubbed "Super-Duper Tuesday". Californians who vote by mail will begin receiving their ballots the week of January 7th, nearly a month ahead of the February election, and less than three weeks from today.
With four in ten California voters expected to vote by mail, the presidential primary is actually a month-long election season that kicks off on January 7. California's Legislature changed the Presidential primary election date in an effort to increase California's clout in the Presidential nominee selection process. February 5 is the first of three California statewide elections taking place in 2008.
In addition to selecting Presidential nominees, California voters will also be voting on seven propositions that would change school funding rules, legislative term limits and tribal gaming agreements.
The accelerated campaign schedule has placed elections in the middle of the holiday season. Presidential candidates are touting the holiday theme in campaign ads that have begun to air online and in other early primary states. While some voters may be reluctant to talk politics with family members around the holidays, families can have a significant impact on potential voters.
A 2005 CVF survey found that two-thirds of California's infrequent voters say that when they do vote, family members are an influential source of information. Family visits can be a great opportunity to talk about the candidates and measures on the ballot, and help each other get prepared to vote.
California is the largest of 22 states that will be voting on nominees for president on February 5, which has been dubbed "Super-Duper Tuesday". Californians who vote by mail will begin receiving their ballots the week of January 7th, nearly a month ahead of the February election, and less than three weeks from today.
With four in ten California voters expected to vote by mail, the presidential primary is actually a month-long election season that kicks off on January 7. California's Legislature changed the Presidential primary election date in an effort to increase California's clout in the Presidential nominee selection process. February 5 is the first of three California statewide elections taking place in 2008.
In addition to selecting Presidential nominees, California voters will also be voting on seven propositions that would change school funding rules, legislative term limits and tribal gaming agreements.
The accelerated campaign schedule has placed elections in the middle of the holiday season. Presidential candidates are touting the holiday theme in campaign ads that have begun to air online and in other early primary states. While some voters may be reluctant to talk politics with family members around the holidays, families can have a significant impact on potential voters.
A 2005 CVF survey found that two-thirds of California's infrequent voters say that when they do vote, family members are an influential source of information. Family visits can be a great opportunity to talk about the candidates and measures on the ballot, and help each other get prepared to vote.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Online Voter Registration hearing - my testimony & webcast
Last Friday I participated in a California State Senate hearing sponsored by the Senate Elections Committee to explore the feasibility of online voter registration. The hearing was chaired by State Senator Ron Calderon, who intends to introduce legislation early next year to advance online registration. During the hearing, the possibility of reconvening the Internet Voting Task Force was also discussed. My testimony and this California Channel webcast of the hearing are available online.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Update on California legislative hearings
On Monday I was in Los Angeles for the Assembly's hearing on voter participation and new technologies. My powerpoint presentation is available here, and features highlights from CVF's California Voter Participation Survey. A PDF version is also available.
Tomorrow I'm heading over to the State Senate's Online Voter Registration hearing at the State Capitol, Room 113. The hearing starts at 10 a.m.. Here is the agenda, which features links to an overview by the committee and the Arizona Secretary of State's powerpoint presentation. Scheduled speakers include:
- Craig Stender, HAVA Project Manager, Arizona Secretary of State
- Robert Rubin, Legal Director, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
- Ronda Paschal, Deputy Secretary of State, Legislative and Constituent Affairs, California Secretary of State
- Dennis Clear, Legislative Director, California Department of Motor Vehicles
- Kim Alexander, President and Founder, California Voter Foundation
Tomorrow I'm heading over to the State Senate's Online Voter Registration hearing at the State Capitol, Room 113. The hearing starts at 10 a.m.. Here is the agenda, which features links to an overview by the committee and the Arizona Secretary of State's powerpoint presentation. Scheduled speakers include:
- Craig Stender, HAVA Project Manager, Arizona Secretary of State
- Robert Rubin, Legal Director, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
- Ronda Paschal, Deputy Secretary of State, Legislative and Constituent Affairs, California Secretary of State
- Dennis Clear, Legislative Director, California Department of Motor Vehicles
- Kim Alexander, President and Founder, California Voter Foundation
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Please contribute to the California Voter Foundation!
In the rough and tumble world of California politics, where can voters turn?
The award-winning California Voter Foundation web site provides a safe, informative and consistently nonpartisan place for voters to learn about California propositions, candidates and politics. And after you vote, CVF works to ensure our votes will be accurately counted and verified.
CVF is asking you to help us help California voters. Will you make a contribution to support the California Voter Foundation? It's easy and it's tax-deductible! You can make a credit card donation online using PayPal (and you don't even need a PayPal account to do it).
California voters decide which politicians and policies will govern this great state. Those decisions impact the quality of our lives and reverberate far and wide, impacting the nation and world as well. The reliable information California voters need to make such important decisions is at www.calvoter.org.
Next year, California voters will be voting in three statewide elections, including, for the first time, a February Presidential primary! Please help us help California voters get prepared and informed for all of these elections, by contributing to CVF. If you prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to "California Voter Foundation" and send it to:
California Voter Foundation
2612 J Street, Suite 8
Sacramento, CA 95816
Thank you for supporting CVF's nonpartisan work to educate voters and advance transparency and accountability in the vote counting process!
The award-winning California Voter Foundation web site provides a safe, informative and consistently nonpartisan place for voters to learn about California propositions, candidates and politics. And after you vote, CVF works to ensure our votes will be accurately counted and verified.
CVF is asking you to help us help California voters. Will you make a contribution to support the California Voter Foundation? It's easy and it's tax-deductible! You can make a credit card donation online using PayPal (and you don't even need a PayPal account to do it).
California voters decide which politicians and policies will govern this great state. Those decisions impact the quality of our lives and reverberate far and wide, impacting the nation and world as well. The reliable information California voters need to make such important decisions is at www.calvoter.org.
Next year, California voters will be voting in three statewide elections, including, for the first time, a February Presidential primary! Please help us help California voters get prepared and informed for all of these elections, by contributing to CVF. If you prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to "California Voter Foundation" and send it to:
California Voter Foundation
2612 J Street, Suite 8
Sacramento, CA 95816
Thank you for supporting CVF's nonpartisan work to educate voters and advance transparency and accountability in the vote counting process!
Friday, December 7, 2007
CA legislative hearings next week on voter outreach & registration
Two California legislative hearings are taking place next week and I'll be participating in both. Here are the details:
On Monday, December 10, the Assembly is holding a hearing in Los Angeles. The subject is, "How Can California Modernize Voter Education & Outreach: Lessons Learned From New Media Pioneers".
The hearing takes place from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the Junipero Serra State Building, 320 West Fourth Street in downtown Los Angeles, in the Carmel Room. It's a joint hearing sponsored by the Assembly Arts & Entertainment Committee and the Assembly Elections Committee, and will be chaired by Assemblymembers Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach) and Curren Price (D-Inglewood). I'll be presenting findings from our 2005 California Voter Participation Survey. Also addressing the committees will be California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and representatives from Rock the Vote, MySpace and Facebook.
Then at the end of next week, on Friday, December 14, the Senate Elections Committee will conduct a hearing to examine the potential for online voter registration. It starts at 10 a.m. in Room 113 at the State Capitol in downtown Sacramento. The hearing will be chaired by State Senator Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) and will include representatives from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, the California DMV, Lawyer's Committee on Civil Rights, and the California Secretary of State's Office. I'll be speaking at this hearing as well and will be highlighting potential security and election fraud issues that could result from online voter registration.
Both hearings will likely be recorded and aired on the California Channel, possibly live, on TV and on the web. They are open to the public and there will be an opportunity for public comment.
On Monday, December 10, the Assembly is holding a hearing in Los Angeles. The subject is, "How Can California Modernize Voter Education & Outreach: Lessons Learned From New Media Pioneers".
The hearing takes place from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the Junipero Serra State Building, 320 West Fourth Street in downtown Los Angeles, in the Carmel Room. It's a joint hearing sponsored by the Assembly Arts & Entertainment Committee and the Assembly Elections Committee, and will be chaired by Assemblymembers Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach) and Curren Price (D-Inglewood). I'll be presenting findings from our 2005 California Voter Participation Survey. Also addressing the committees will be California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and representatives from Rock the Vote, MySpace and Facebook.
Then at the end of next week, on Friday, December 14, the Senate Elections Committee will conduct a hearing to examine the potential for online voter registration. It starts at 10 a.m. in Room 113 at the State Capitol in downtown Sacramento. The hearing will be chaired by State Senator Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) and will include representatives from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, the California DMV, Lawyer's Committee on Civil Rights, and the California Secretary of State's Office. I'll be speaking at this hearing as well and will be highlighting potential security and election fraud issues that could result from online voter registration.
Both hearings will likely be recorded and aired on the California Channel, possibly live, on TV and on the web. They are open to the public and there will be an opportunity for public comment.
Monday, November 19, 2007
CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen sues ES&S; seeks $15 million in damages
Today California Secretary of State Debra Bowen issued this news release announcing that she is suing voting equipment manufacturer ES&S for selling voting equipment to five counties that was not certified.
State law requires voting equipment to be certified before it can be used in California. According to this Statement of Findings, also issued today by the Secretary of State, ES&S delivered 972 AutoMARK A200 accessible voting devices to five California counties: Colusa, Merced, San Francisco, Marin and Solano. County elections officials believed they bought and received certified AutoMARK A100 machines, and have already used the A200 machines in elections, apparently not knowing the model they had was uncertified.
It is incredible to me that, more than three years after Diebold was sued for $5 million for providing uncertified equipment to California counties, another vendor would pull a similar stunt. Debra Bowen is making vendors abide by the law, preventing them from cutting corners, and is not permitting them to dictate their own terms for selling voting equipment in California. Once again, she's shown herself to be fearless and nothing short of heroic.
State law requires voting equipment to be certified before it can be used in California. According to this Statement of Findings, also issued today by the Secretary of State, ES&S delivered 972 AutoMARK A200 accessible voting devices to five California counties: Colusa, Merced, San Francisco, Marin and Solano. County elections officials believed they bought and received certified AutoMARK A100 machines, and have already used the A200 machines in elections, apparently not knowing the model they had was uncertified.
It is incredible to me that, more than three years after Diebold was sued for $5 million for providing uncertified equipment to California counties, another vendor would pull a similar stunt. Debra Bowen is making vendors abide by the law, preventing them from cutting corners, and is not permitting them to dictate their own terms for selling voting equipment in California. Once again, she's shown herself to be fearless and nothing short of heroic.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Waiting for election results in the Inland Empire
Local elections were held in many counties throughout California yesterday. In several counties, election officials transitioned from electronic voting systems in polling places to paper ballot voting. This was due to the fact that California Secretary of State Debra Bowen has severely restricted the use of electronic voting machines in California, allowing counties using Diebold and Sequoia touchscreens to only place one machine in each polling place for accessibility purposes.
Although the restrictions don't take effect until the 2008 election season, many counties made the transition early to give themselves and their pollworkers a chance to get comfortable with the new voting methods before the presidential election. Michelle D'Armond of the Riverside Press Enterprise reported today in this article about the slow vote count in one county, San Bernardino, which just switched back to paper. Excerpts are featured below.
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Californians may not know the winner of next year's presidential primary until days after the election, if this week is any indication.
In San Bernardino County, which switched to paper ballots this election, polling-place results weren't available until about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, leaving candidates and voters wondering who won a number of local races.
So what does that mean for February's election, when most California voters will use paper ballots to pick presidential nominees and turnout is expected to be much higher and ballots will be longer?
"I would suspect that in some races the results could be unknown for some time," San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Kari Verjil said of the presidential and legislative primary elections. "I'm glad that I went forward with paper ballots for this election, because it's opened my eyes to some of the problems, to what I'm going to see in February and June."
San Bernardino County used paper ballots this election in response to an order from the secretary of state, ordering them not to use their touch-screen voting machines in February because of security concerns. Riverside County used touch-screen voting Tuesday. It and many other counties also must switch to paper ballots in February.
After the polls closed Tuesday, both counties posted absentee ballot counts. Riverside County then posted updates from precinct voting about every hour. San Bernardino County didn't post any precinct results until after midnight Wednesday.
Redlands City Council candidate Jerry Bean said he saw the results of absentee ballots -- which were posted about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday -- but gave up on waiting for the polling-place results and went to bed.
Bean and his supporters "had no idea what was happening" in the race, but he was glad San Bernardino County decided to try out the system in a small, local election instead of next year's contests.
"Could you imagine if this happened next November?" said Bean, who was the top vote getter in his race.
---
Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, predicted that counties will get faster at using the optical scanners, but acknowledged that results likely still will be late. Voters enjoy the convenience of being able to register fairly close to elections, request absentee ballots late and drop off their absentee ballots at polls on Election Day, but all those things increase burdens on registrars, she said.
"That's been the trend," she said. "It's taking longer no matter what the voting system."
Although the restrictions don't take effect until the 2008 election season, many counties made the transition early to give themselves and their pollworkers a chance to get comfortable with the new voting methods before the presidential election. Michelle D'Armond of the Riverside Press Enterprise reported today in this article about the slow vote count in one county, San Bernardino, which just switched back to paper. Excerpts are featured below.
------------
Californians may not know the winner of next year's presidential primary until days after the election, if this week is any indication.
In San Bernardino County, which switched to paper ballots this election, polling-place results weren't available until about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, leaving candidates and voters wondering who won a number of local races.
So what does that mean for February's election, when most California voters will use paper ballots to pick presidential nominees and turnout is expected to be much higher and ballots will be longer?
"I would suspect that in some races the results could be unknown for some time," San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Kari Verjil said of the presidential and legislative primary elections. "I'm glad that I went forward with paper ballots for this election, because it's opened my eyes to some of the problems, to what I'm going to see in February and June."
San Bernardino County used paper ballots this election in response to an order from the secretary of state, ordering them not to use their touch-screen voting machines in February because of security concerns. Riverside County used touch-screen voting Tuesday. It and many other counties also must switch to paper ballots in February.
After the polls closed Tuesday, both counties posted absentee ballot counts. Riverside County then posted updates from precinct voting about every hour. San Bernardino County didn't post any precinct results until after midnight Wednesday.
Redlands City Council candidate Jerry Bean said he saw the results of absentee ballots -- which were posted about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday -- but gave up on waiting for the polling-place results and went to bed.
Bean and his supporters "had no idea what was happening" in the race, but he was glad San Bernardino County decided to try out the system in a small, local election instead of next year's contests.
"Could you imagine if this happened next November?" said Bean, who was the top vote getter in his race.
---
Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, predicted that counties will get faster at using the optical scanners, but acknowledged that results likely still will be late. Voters enjoy the convenience of being able to register fairly close to elections, request absentee ballots late and drop off their absentee ballots at polls on Election Day, but all those things increase burdens on registrars, she said.
"That's been the trend," she said. "It's taking longer no matter what the voting system."
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