EFFORT UNDERWAY IN CALIFORNIA TO LEGALIZE INTERNET VOTING: If 420,000 Voters Sign Petition, Initiative Could Appear On November 2000 Ballot.If approved, the California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). Internet Voting Initiative (CIVI) petition submitted last week to the Attorney General of California would give voters the legal right to cast their ballot over the Internet in California for all political elections, including federal, state, county, municipal, and school districts. The signatures of 420,000 California voters are needed for the petition to appear on the November 2000 ballot. The initiative was drafted by election services provider Votation.com Inc. and composed by Marc Strassman, the firm's director of Business Development for Political Jurisdictions. "Our goal," says Strassman, "is to empower empower verb To encourage or provide a person with the means or information to become involved in solving his/her own problems eligible and concerned voters by letting them use for political purposes the same technology they now use to buy books, trade securities, chat, and make travel arrangements. They will now be able to vote with greater confidence for government officials whom they feel will represent their best interests. The proven track record and ample resources of Votation.com will hasten has·ten v. has·tened, has·ten·ing, has·tens v.intr. To move or act swiftly. v.tr. 1. To cause to hurry. 2. the arrival of efficient, state- of-the-art Internet-based voting." The initiative also has the support of the Campaign for Digital Democracy, an organization which has been working to bring Internet voter registration Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens to check in with some central registry before being allowed to vote in elections. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive. Centralized/compulsory vs. , initiative petition signing, and voting to California since 1996, when it drafted and circulated the Virtual Voting Rights Voting rights The right to vote on matters that are put to a vote of security holders. For example the right to vote for directors. voting rights The type of voting and the amount of control held by the owners of a class of stock. Initiative, an earlier version of the current CIVI. VeriSign Inc., a leading provider of Internet trust services which recently was named California's first licensed Certification Authority See CA. (CA), is also supporting the initiative. As the first CA, VeriSign enables legally valid electronic communication between citizens and public entities. "Initiatives like CIVI will allow citizens to reap the full benefits of electronic government," says Richard Yanowitch, executive vice president of VeriSign. Copies of the proposed initiative are available at http://votation.com/political/index.html, http://www.votesite.com/, and http://www.verisign.com/. Votation.com provides its election services to governments, trade associations, labor unions labor union: see union, labor. , school districts, credit unions, and corporations using both the Internet and traditional paper ballots, telephonic and other mechanical means. |
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