The Voting News Daily: Internet voting debated on Canadian editorial pages; UT discusses voter registration modernization; voter ID bill moves in SC
There are several noteworthy Internet voting stories today. In Canada, two opinion pieces demonstrate increasing knowledge of the challenges of Internet voting: the Vancouver Sun acknowledges the security and ballot-anonymity issues and concludes that both Internet voting and the successful resolution of its challenges are inevitable; in the Globe and Mail, journalist Robert Matas notes the same complexities and points to the ambiguous data on the effect that Internet voting has had upon voter turnout. The European Consortium for Political Research has issued a call for papers on Internet voting for a panel to be held at its August 2011 conference.
In other news, voter ID advances in South Carolina Senate committee; and in California, Indiana, Michigan, Louisiana, and West Virginia, election costs spur discussion of diverse solutions including precinct consolidation, vote by mail, and vote centers.
All this and more in today’s Voting News below.
AK: AP Interview: Miller would back election law shift: AP Alaska | adn.com
Joe Miller said he would support a voter intent standard in Alaska election law so long as the state no longer has discretion to determine which votes should count. Read More
Senator Ted Gaines, R—Roseville, today announced that he has introduced a bill that will help cut the cost of special elections in smaller California counties. Senate Bill 109 will give counties with populations under 400,000 the option to hold solely vote-by-mail elections in situations where a special election is called. Read More
CA: Placer County facing $3.25 million in special election costs this year – Granite Bay
The price tag for elections is sky-high in Placer County in 2011.
Estimates are that as many as four special elections could take place before the start of summer and cost the county nearly $3.25 million.
County Clerk-Registrar of Voters Jim McCauley pays the bills when an election occurs in Placer County. This year, with one special election for state Senate District 1 already on the books and costing $600,000 to $650,000, three more could be in the offing for voters by the end of the spring. Read More
CT: The Republican-American Reassurance on state voting
Last week, in one of her first official acts, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, Connecticut’s chief elections official, convened a panel to study Connecticut’s voting system and recommend changes if necessary. Ms. Merrill’s decision to convene this forum was a direct result of the chaos surrounding voting in Bridgeport during the election last Nov. 2. Read More
DC: 3 special elections loom in D.C. – Washington Times
An unusual turn of events means D.C. voters will hit the polls for an unprecedented three special elections this spring, but the consequences run beyond who wins or loses in the three races.
In play as well are the cost of the elections, the failure of Mayor Vincent C. Gray to nominate a third member to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics (BOEE) and whom Republicans will field as candidates.