I’ve posted twice about the new eVoter website which is getting substantial play in Illinois news and is looking to make a bigger splash across the country.  Here’s an article in the Springfield Journal Register. While I’ve had some substantial criticisms, I have to give a lot of credit to their responsiveness to the concerns we have pointed out.

I remain concerned about this venture, if for no other reason than its sheer size and intricacy.  On top of the technical issues that will have to be continually overcome, there is the issue of just where this leads us in the future.

I met with one of the principals of the company today.  I’ve no doubt of the integrity of eVoter.  They’re looking to establish themselves in a bipartisan way, and any hint of impropriety will not serve their business model.

Additionally, the company is poised to provide some tools for voters in some counties that don’t have access to some of the features of our website.  So overall, eVoter itself is a positive step forward for the voting public.

So I’ll downgrade my previous “peril” rating and just advise caution, which is pretty much the best rating possible for anything you read on line, and probably more positive than the rating my blog deserves. 

Update:  I’ve posted more about eVoter has responded to these issues here.

I’ve been a little busy to give my latest reviews of eVoter.  So my apologies for anyone who’s had a poor experience.  My advice remains the same as it did before.  Use eVoter at your own peril.

Here are some points worth noting.  Some are glaring errors.  Others are merely stylistic.  All can be avoided by getting a true specimen from your official election authority.

On the Democratic Party specimen ballot, eVoter shows Mark Doyle running for Treasurer when he actually has withdrawn as a candidate.

On the Republican Party specimen, nothing is shown that indicates that there is a write in candidate for the 52nd State Senate District.

None of the referenda show up on the specimens

Dennis Cook shows up twice as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

A stylistic point that I don’t care for is  the listing of candidates in first name order, instead of the actual order on the ballot, except when someone pays eVoter, in which case the candidate gets the first spot on the ballot.

We will be doing official testing of 87 ballot tabulators over the course of the next three days, perhaps longer.  I invite anyone who wants to come down to the Brookens building to observe, and better yet to help.  We have literally thousands of ballots to run through the machines.  With shortages in staffing and funding, I’m definitely concerned about getting the job done this week.

So come and join us.  It should be your only chance to ever cast hundreds of ballots for a single election.

I think we run excellent elections in Champaign County.  There are a host of reasons.  I believe it starts with the extraordinary staff here in the County Clerk’s office.  But a large part of the success of Champaign County elections is a result of our election judges.

No one is perfect, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try.  And virtually all of our judges are trying.  As evidence, you can look at our election judge training this month.  Election judges are required to take training every two years, a cycle that begins with the even year general election.  Once that training is completed, a judge doesn’t have to take additional training until the next general election.  That means, most judges are not required to take training for the upcoming primary election.

Nevertheless, we still hold schools.  This year, when we mailed our election judges information about the upcoming election, we let them know about an important change regarding voter applications and strongly encouraged them to sign up for class, even if they weren’t required to.

Our judges have responded well.  Currently we have 375 judges signed up for training.  368 of those judges have already gone through training and are doing the additional training purely voluntarily.

In the bustle of election day, mistakes can happen.  Every election we try to do more to prevent those mistakes.  The number of judges going through training should give every voter confidence that their election judges are doing their best to bring them a fair, honest, and efficient election day.