A Tallahassee legislator wants to bring voting registration into the Internet age. And he has the backing of the supervisors of election whose offices must deal with all the paper generated by the electorate. Florida would be the 21st state to implement an online voter registration system should lawmakers approve Rep. Alan Williams’ HB 227 this legislative session, according to the Pew Center. Williams, D-Tallahassee, hopes the system would be ready by the 2016 election. It will save money and get more people involved in the electoral process, he said. Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, has filed a companion bill (SB 228) in the Senate. “The byproduct of it is more people engaged in the electoral process,” Williams said. “We cannot continue to embrace a typewriter mentality in an iPad world.” Currently, a prospective voter can download a voter registration form online but still must mail it to a local supervisor of elections office, which must scan the document and mail it to the state to be approved, said Ion Sancho, Leon County supervisor of elections. The state then notifies local offices if the person is approved.
But if Williams is successful — and he will need support from the Republican majority — a computer system would require an applicant to submit his driver’s license number or identification number. The system would then verify that person’s date of birth and name using a state database before being sent to a local supervisor of election’s office. It will also allow people to update their registration online.
“One whole action is removed because it goes directly where it needs to be,” Sancho said.
Simply put, the same system of checks are in place whether you apply through the mail or online, Sancho said.
“This doesn’t change or take away anything from the current process. It only complements what we’re already doing,” Williams said. “We can’t continue doing things the way we’re doing it.”
Full Article: Rep. Alan Williams pushes online registration.