I realize that on-line or automatic registration is faster, but the old-fashioned way is just as easy, and more than likely more secure.

Our county clerk’s office publicizes the location of these deputies; maybe not enough?

Have the people in this country become so time-conscious that a mere few minutes face-to-face with someone who has been properly trained in vogter registration is not worth the trouble?

When your state institutes online voter registration, make sure that existing means of registration are not eliminated or made more difficult. Online registration should be a complementary method to existing methods. Many people will choose to register online. In Arizona, 60% of the registrants in 2008 used the online method.

Cheers,
Paul Malischke

With internet registration, the system might be open to a full scale attack of all voter records, every single record, not just some paper records that someone can get their hands on.

TX. As seen on Texas SOS website August 12, 2009
Notice: Progress is being made to restore SOS services that have been disrupted by a hardware problem preventing access to many of our databases…
https://direct.sos.state.tx.us/home/home-sitedown.asp
Screen shot
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i129/ncvoter/TX_SOS_DOS_Aug_12_09- 1.jpg

There are also security problems with paper registration forms. Mailing in a form does not guarantee security. How many people handle the form until it gets to the right place? Will the data entry clerk enter it correctly and in a timely fashion? In some states, if you fail the HAVA check (perhaps due to your handwriting, perhaps due to a data entry error), you will not be on the poll list and may have to use a provisional ballot.

As I mention in my video, in 2004 one Wisconsin city had over 10,000 unprocessed forms on the day before the election. This is a “denial of service”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBENY8uAlGM

Spoofing – In each of the last two presidential elections, Wisconsin has had a handful of crooked “Special Registration Deputies” who were getting identifying information from registrants. How many hands did that paper form go through before being filed?

I suspect that every state in the union has extensive experience in web security measures to prevent against hackers. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation already allows drivers license change of address and 6 other functions online. The Wisconsin Elections Division already has Voter Public Access, which allows voters to look up their registration and polling place.

I am strongly against Internet VOTING because it is not a verifiable transaction, since we have the secret ballot. But Internet REGISTRATION can be verified a few days after you register online, or ultimately by finding your name in the poll book on Election Day.

We must continue to look for more efficient ways to handle commercial, personal, and governmental processes. Using the Internet is one of those ways. The voters will benefit, and election administrators will benefit.

There are many security issues to consider when involving the internet in elections:

potential for “spoofing” where a citizen is misdirected to a false site that appears legitimate
potential for hackers and crackers to find a way into the site to tamper with the database
denial of services i.e through various means making the legitimate site unavailable

Before online voter registration spreads, we should consult internet security experts who are also versed on election transparency issues.

In the meanwhile, it is less risky to download voter registration applications from board of elections websites, complete the forms, and mail them in.

For your readers worried about security of online registration, they will learn in the video that online registration is limited to those who have a state drivers license or a state ID card.
Cheers,
Paul Malischke

I posted your article about Voter modernization to a list serve I’m on, and I got a strong reaction from one person.

Could you go further into how voter “modernization” as proposed would disenfranchise voters?

My state of NC used to have a “no match no vote” rule which in effect punished voters for the faults of the social security database, where voters failed to match about 20% of the time.

We did have a high success rate of matching with drivers license numbers.

Oh, and in NC, you have to present a birth certificate or other similar document to get a drivers license. You can’t just walk in to the DMV.

Also, in NC, we recently implemented same day registration for the early voting period only. Our early voting is well regulated and we have checks in place that prevent double voting. A person can try to double vote but only one vote will get counted.

I think at this time the public is satisfied with limiting same day registration to early voting but I also believe our SBoE wants to add it to election day.

That will mean further reliance upon electronic poll books, which our SBoE has promoted heavily across our state. Making elections more tech dependent will impact hiring of poll workers in some areas.