Internet Voting in Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Elections!

The Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment has recently announced the selection of Everyone Counts as the proposed online voting vendor for the 2016 Neighborhood Council elections.  The contract is for 50 elections with online and telephone voting options, for $552,000. A verifiable voter registration service is included.

Online voting has the ability to significantly increase participation in the Neighborhood Council system. Currently, voters who want to participate in Neighborhood Council elections are forced to vote in person on one day in a single location for a period of between 2-6 hours unless the Neighborhood Council offers vote-by-mail, which only 15 Neighborhood Councils do. On average, there were only 264 votes per Neighborhood Council in the 2014 elections when tens of thousands were eligible.

Voters will have the opportunity to vote from their computer, smart phone or telephone land line.

Besides many government elections in 165 countries Everyone Counts has conducted the voting for the Oscars and Emmy’s, which apparently require more security checks than many government elections.  In 2014 alone, Everyone Counts administered 540 primary and general US elections, delivering 5,000 ballot styles to voters across 27,000 precincts for 231 counties.

Once a voter is registered, they will be provided security information to sign-in and cast their vote online. They will only receive the ballot for which they are qualified to vote. Online voters can review their vote prior to submitting. One vote per voter.

Online voting will replace any vote-by-mail options that Neighborhood Councils may have.

If the contract is approved this March, after public discussion, it still must go to the Mayor’s Office and the CAO for final sign-off. Check the www.EmpowerLA.org calendar for more information.

William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.

Author: Internet Voting Now!

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