Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler has worked hard to add a new dimension to his job, while streamlining and updating the whole voting process. “Louisiana ranks third in the country of eligible voters registered to vote,” Schedler told a gathering of businesspersons and elected officials Friday. “In our state, 84 percent of eligible voters are registered to vote.” While a good percentage of persons are registered to vote, the problem, Schedler said, is “nobody shows up to vote.” One reason? “We have way too many elections in Louisiana,” he said. From January 2005 to December 31, 2010, Louisiana held 70 elections, according to the Legislative auditor. It was the highest number of any state.
… In addition to a cost of $1,250 per precinct to hold an election, he said another down side is the restriction of voter participation. “The more you have something, the less emphasis you put on it of importance,” Schedler said.
But that doesn’t mean Louisiana should halt efforts to register voters, and his office has worked to make it simple. Louisiana was the second state in the country to implement online registration. “My website geauxvote.com includes an online voter registration component which can be used by citizens statewide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Schedler said. “We have other states trying to emulate us.”
However, it will be a long time – if ever – before online voting is secure enough to implement.
Full Article: La. Secretary of State speaks of number, cost of elections.