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Government Technology

The Vote: California Tangible Ballots Initiative Enters Circulation

Aug 9, 2007,

A new California initiative -- that would require touchscreen or direct recording electronic voting device to result in a paper or other tangible ballot -- was authorized by Secretary of State Debra Bowen to begin collecting petition signatures.

The initiative, said Bowen's office in a release, amends the definition of "ballot" to confirm that votes on a direct-recording electronic device must result in a paper or other tangible ballot. It also eliminates the touchscreen on a direct-recording electronic device from the definition of "ballot," and expands the definition of "ballot" to include physical objects that may be indelibly marked by voters' physical action and are susceptible to counting through use of ordinary physical senses.

The initiative would not prohibit use of legally approved methods of voting or vote counting, so long as tangible physical objects result. If approved, one-time costs could run in the tens of millions of dollars to replace or alter voting equipment, according to the release.