“The prospect of electronic petition gathering is intriguing,” says LA County election official

Efrain Escobedo is the Governmental & Legislative Affairs Manager in the office of Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan.  In response to an inquiry from Etopia News about the Department’s views on the e-initiative, he today sent the following reply:

“Elections, as with most all other government services, are in need of retooling for service delivery in the 21^st Century.  Los Angeles County is continuously working to identify new tools and techniques that expand and enhance our service delivery. 

“Expanding and protecting access to the electoral process is a top priority for our office, as is providing this service efficiently.   In the last decade we have seen a number of innovations from online voter registration to automated signature recognition to verify vote by mail ballots.   We expect that new innovations will continue to emerge in this age of rapid development.  However, it is still important that these new tools and practices prove they are accurate, secure and reliable.  Democracy is the one thing we can’t afford to have go offline. 

“The prospect of electronic petition gathering is intriguing.  Local election officials will watch closely as California considers this practice both from a technological and legal perspective.  As with all innovations, it will have to endure these tests before it can be implemented in a state with nearly 18 million registered voters.”