Posted on 06/22/2003 4:11:43 AM PDT by chance33_98
Defense plans to expand online voting in 2004 election
By Chloe Albanesius, National Journal's Technology Daily
Despite voting issues that plagued the 2000 election, the Defense Department will expand its online voting initiative during the 2004 election cycle.
Dubbed SERVE, short for Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, the program is part of the federal voting-assistance program and is open to military personnel in the United States and abroad and certain civilians living overseas. Votes can be cast on any computer with Internet access and that operates on Microsoft's Windows system.
The 2000 pilot program was launched "to explore the feasibility of Internet voting to overcome the mail-transit time and mobility barriers" faced by many absentee voters, said Polli Brunelli, director of the voting-assistance program.
The inaugural program included 84 participants and by congressional mandate must reach "many more voters" during the next election in order to justify its continuation, Brunelli said. Organizers hope to attract as many 100,000 voters in 2004.
The program will be administered on a state-by-state basis, and thus far the four states that originally participated—Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Utah—have shown an interest in returning to the program. Seven additional states have expressed interest in joining: Arkansas, Hawaii, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.
"A significant challenge is to build a system that can accommodate the variety of state election-code requirements and county election-administration procedures," Brunelli said.
Elizabeth Hanshaw-Winn, director of the legal division at the Texas Secretary of State's election office, said that problem threatened to jeopardize her state's participation in the program because Texas law did not authorize participation. To combat that problem, state lawmakers cleared and the governor signed into law a bill, S.B. 655, to allow for participation.
Minnesota has similar concerns, said Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer. State officials are currently investigating whether they have statutory authority. "We're not taking any steps unless we're sure," she said.
North Carolina officials were eager to participate in the program because the state has some military installations. But Elections Director Gary Bartlett raised two concerns with the program: "Who will pay, and will they have the technology in place in time?"
Johnnie McLean, deputy director of elections for North Carolina, said her office had been under the impression that the Defense Department would provide the money but recently received a letter from Defense that the state could use funds provided through a 2002 election reform law that paves the way for more electronic voting.
Defense "is funding nearly all of the SERVE costs," Brunelli said in response. "States and counties may incur some expenses for their staff time and possibly for minor local system modifications." Brunelli said money from the election reform law can be used to cover SERVE costs, and states need to follow the procedures for obtaining that money.
Most of the states interested in the voting-assistance program see it as secure. "Obviously we have concerns," said Paul Craft, manager of Florida's Bureau of Voting Systems. "But we are very confident" that the system will work.
Since the voter turnout has been dismal in recent years perhaps the next general election could be held in the American Idol format. Several weeks of "competitions" during which the lowest vote recipients are eliminated down to the two finalists. Then open the lines for 2 - 3 hours and let 'er rip ;-)
Exactly what I think about touch screen voting. They can be made with a paper receipt, but are not in my Democrat controlled area.
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