TO: CVF-NEWS FROM: Kim Alexander, CVF President DATE: December 7, 2000 RE: CVF NEWS round up
Hi Folks,
In this issue of CVF-NEWS:
CVF offers new web page of links to Voting Technology Resources
To help the public access reliable and timely information about voting technology, the California Voter Foundation has created a new web page providing links to informative news stories and online resources. One of my favorite resources on the page is an interactive map published online by USA Today that provides an excellent visual display showing which voting systems are used in each of the country's 3,000+ counties. Check out these maps and other helpful voting technology resources at: http://www.calvoter.org/votingtechnology.html
CVF President's "Fresh Air" interview available online
Last week NPR's "Fresh Air" program aired an interview I did with the host, Terry Gross, on the topic of Internet voting. If you missed the show and would like to listen to an archive of the program, you can hear it online using Real Player. The show is available at: http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20001129.fa.ram
Democracy Online project finds more voters went online in 2000 for election information
Last week the Democracy Online project at George Washington University released the results of a survey of online users that they conducted to determine how Americans used the Internet this year to get information about the election. The survey found that one in three Americans, or 35 percent, used the Internet to get information about politics, campaigns, or issues in the news, up from 25 percent in 1998. The survey also found that younger people were more likely than older people to turn to the Internet for election information.
The "Post-Election 2000 Survey on Internet Use for Civics and Politics" was conducted between November 21 - 26, 2000, by Thomas Opinion Research in conjunction with the TNS Intersearch Omni Poll. A news release and additional data and findings from the survey is available online at: http://www.democracyonline.org.
Absentee ballot count completed in California
California Secretary of State Bill Jones announced this week that all absentee ballots have now been counted. Jones' news release in part addresses misleading reports circulating in the media recently that have resulted in many California voters' fearing that their absentee ballots might not be counted. Here at CVF we have also received numerous inquiries from voters about whether all absentee ballots are counted. To help set the record straight, Jones wrote in his release:
"There have been several erroneous reports on talk radio, the Internet and elsewhere that California does not count all absentee ballots or that absentee ballots are only counted in races where they would make a difference in the outcome.
"For the record, ALL ABSENTEE BALLOTS ARE COUNTED IN CALIFORNIA. All absentee ballots must be received by the county elections official by the time the polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day. All absentee ballot envelopes must be signed by the voter and that signature must be verified by the county elections official against the signature of the registered voter that is on file in the county elections office.
"Following the November 7th election, more than 1.1 million absentee ballots needed to be verified and counted. The rare instances an absentee ballot would not be counted are specified in statute and include: no signature on the envelope; the ballot was received after the 8 p.m. Election Day deadline; or the signature on the envelope did not match the signature of the registered voter on file with the county elections official."
The entire release is available online at: http://www.ss.ca.gov/executive/press_releases/2000/00-127.htm
CVF president to travel to the Basque Country to speak on the Internet and Democracy
Next week I am going to Spain to participate in a conference on technology and democracy to be held in the Basque Country. The conference is sponsored by the Basque Government and Basque Parliament, and I will be presenting a paper on how the Internet is used in U.S. elections. Other U.S. speakers include Phil Noble of Politics Online, and Mark Fleischer, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, which conducted the first Internet voting election in the U.S. this past March. I'm very excited about this opportunity to spread the word about how we are using the Internet in California and the U.S. to advance voter access to reliable voter information. The conference will be held Thursday, December 14 and Friday, December 15, and it will be webcast, so if you are interested in tuning in you can watch it live online at http://www.tecnodemocracia.com/ . My presentation is on Friday morning, December 15 at 10:15 a.m., but since Spain is 9 hours ahead of California, I expect only the night owls subscribed to CVF-NEWS might be tuning in for my presentation.
I'll be out of the country until December 24, so in the meantime if you need assistance or have questions please contact Saskia Mills or Debbie Rotenberg of the CVF staff.
That's all the news for now. Have a great weekend!
--Kim Alexander, President, California Voter Foundation
kimalex@calvoter.org, www.calvoter.org, (916) 325-2120
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This page was first published on December 8, 2000 | Last updated on February 13, 2001
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