California launches online voter registration

[bemildred]

SACRAMENTO — Californians can register to vote with the click of a mouse in a new online system launched Wednesday.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen said she hopes making the process easier will mean more participation in the Nov. 6 election. Some 6.5 million Californians who are eligible to vote are not registered, she said.

"Today, the Internet replaces the mailbox for thousands of Californians wishing to register to vote," Bowen said at a Sacramento news conference.

The new system could shave a week or more from the paper process, according to Dean Logan, the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder. Until now, every would-be voter had to fill out an application, sign it in paper form and mail or deliver it to elections officials before being added to the voter rolls.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-voter-registration-20120920,0,4080641.story

[Cleita]

1. You beat me to it. I'm not sure I like it.

I started a thread on it in GD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1384607

[bemildred]

2. Yeah, I put it in politics too.

I think it's good, as with DADT, I think the fears are groundless.

[BeeBee]

3. I'm not understanding your objections. This is for registration, not voting.

I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm wondering if I missed something.

[Cleita]

4. I read it wrong, senior vision and all.

Others have pulled my socks up on it. I read register and vote instead of register to vote.

[bemildred]

5. Voting on line is a much trickier question.

You are not wrong about that.

[SoapBox]

6. But...

man oh man...it would be SO cool, if we could cast our votes online.

Our house does vote by mail but I always worry about those ballots being lost.

I really like what Oregon does...all vote by mail but you can drop off your ballot at tons of locations or simply mail it in...there are no polling places nor shady Diebold machines.

[bemildred]

7. Oh, it can be done, no problem.

But certain things would have to happen first, like everybody having their own personal, unique encryption key.