Takoma Park may offer absentee voters the option to vote online in this falls city council and mayoral election.
The city Board of Elections is working with Scantegrity, a research group that ran the citys 2009 elections, to develop a system in which absentee voters could vote online. The city will still be conducting traditional voting at polling places, regardless of whether an online absentee system is implemented, City Clerk Jessie Carpenter said.
“We still expect to have a full, regular election where people come here to vote as people enjoy doing,” Carpenter said.
Scantegrity implemented a system in the last city election in which voters received a code after they voted. They could use the code at a website online to make sure their votes were counted. But the option was not offered to absentee voters, Carpenter said.
This year, the Board of Elections and Scantegrity are exploring an option to offer absentee voters a chance to check if their votes have been counted online, as well as actually vote online, Carpenter said.
Though few took advantage of checking their vote online two years ago, Carpenter said the Board of Elections and the city council are interested in still having the option.
“There was a strong appeal to be able to provide that,” Carpenter said. “The city council was very happy to be able to offer that.”
The city is testing the system with seniors at the Takoma Park Community Center on June 9.
“We want to be sure its not so complex that anyone can’t do it,” Carpenter said.
Full Article: Takoma Park explores online absentee voting.