Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board has edged closer to embracing electronic pollbooks, voting Tuesday to develop ground rules for their use. The board also voted to ask state lawmakers to decide when Wisconsin lobbyists should be permitted to donate to presidential candidates, including Gov. Scott Walker. The board — made up of six former judges tasked with overseeing the state’s campaign finance, elections, ethics, and lobbying laws — voted 4-2 for the electronic pollbook motion at its regular meeting. The motion authorizes board staff to develop standards and procedures for the use of e-pollbooks, which are laptops or tablets that replace paper pollbooks.
E-pollbooks perform the same functions as their paper variants, such as tracking eligible voters in a precinct.
By doing so more efficiently, they can reduce the amount of time it takes for voters to check in at a polling place.
Thirty-two states have jurisdictions that currently use electronic pollbooks, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Full Article: Government Accountability Board moves toward use of electronic pollbooks | Politics and Elections | host.madison.com.