Registrars of Voters want to know more about, assure the security of, e-inits

Two California County Registrars of Voters were contacted today by Etopia News and asked their views about allowing registered California voters to sign official initiative and other petitions online.  Each of them said that they didn’t know enough about the subject to comment on it.

            Carolyn Crnich, Registrar of Voters of Humboldt County said, “I really don’t know enough about it.  I’d like to know more about it, like how the signatures will be kept secure.  I’d like to know more about it before I offer an opinion.  I’d want to know it was secure before it was approved.”

            Shannon Bushey, Interim Registrar of Voters of Santa Clara County, said “About eight weeks into being the Interim Registrar of Voters, I have no position [on e-inits].  I don’t know enough.”

            “e-inits/electronic initiatives” are a contemporary variant of turn-of-the-century “Smart Initiatives,” about which more can be found here.. 

 Supporters of allowing California's registered voters to use the same basic technology currently employed by the state's Secretary of State to authenticate voter registrations to sign initiative, referendum, recall, and in lieu petitions securely online have been congregating online here.

More comments on AB 19 from Registrars of Voters

California Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-19^th) has introduced a bill that would, well, it’s short so you can read for yourself what it would do:
 

SECTION 1.

 It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would require the Secretary of State to implement a pilot program whereby a county may enable voters to vote via the Internet.

Etopia News spoke today with Shannon Bushey, Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, and Cathy Darling Allen, Shasta County Registrar of Voters, about this bill.

Ms. Bushey said that there wasn’t enough information in the bill as it now is for her to say how she feels about it.  She said she couldn’t comment on the substance of the bill because there wasn’t enough substance to it.

Ms. Allen was even less supportive, saying “I don’t know if we’re at the point to move forward on Internet voting.” 

She hinted that AB 19 itself might not pass, saying, “I don’t know how likely it is to move ahead.”

Asked directly if she would want a state-mandated Internet voting trial in her county, she answered, “No.,”

These comments follow by one day this statement from Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley about an Internet voting trial as envisioned by AB 19:  "It's probably not something we'll be interested in doing."

No Internet Voting for Humboldt County

California Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-19^th) has introduced a bill that would, well, it’s short so you can read for yourself what it would do:

SECTION 1.

 It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would require the Secretary of State to implement a pilot program whereby a county may enable voters to vote via the Internet.

Etopia News contacted Carolyn Crnich, Humboldt County’s Registrar of Voters, today to get her take on this bill.

“No, I wouldn’t want it in my county….I’m a firm believer in paper ballots in Humboldt County.”

Further comment is hoped for shortly from other Registrars of Voters and the California Secretary of State.

Ramon Saldivar and Bruce Sievers discuss philanthropy, civil society, and the humanities

 
Ramon Saldivar, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Stanford University, and Bruce Sievers, Visiting Scholar and Lecturer at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford, discuss their recent appointments to the National Council on the Humanities and the relationships among, and role of, civil society, philanthropy, and the humanities, recorded from Stanford, California, on February 26, 2013.