Secretary of State Debra Bowen won the office, but refused to accept the systems that could hinder voters in her state.
The state invested $450 million into electronic voting systems aimed at modernizing elections, but after an independent review of the new voting technologies to ensure they adequately protected the integrity of the vote, the study found flaws in the system. Secretary of State Bowen took the lead by placing strict limits on the use of direct-recording electronic voting machines, and imposed significant security and auditing requirements on systems to be used in California’s presidential primary election.
Secretary Bowen’s decision to use an independent non-partisan organization to study the effects of the California’s voting system is the right approach to ensure voters representing all party affiliations trust the state’s election process.
[A copy of the detail Top to Bottom Election Process Review report]
[Debra Bowen recieves prestigious John F. Kennedy award]
A city of nearly four million people, Los Angeles has taken giant strides toward putting instant runoff voting for city elections on the November 2008 ballot. The L.A. Chamber of Commerce and former Republican mayor Richard Riordan recently endorsed instant runoff voting, with the Chamber's press release saying: "IRV will save money for candidates, who can now spend all their resources on a single race focused on the merits of their platforms, rather than bashing opponents. This new campaign dynamic will bring new candidates and their issues into the local debate, leading to more competitive races for important local government posts."
FairVote proposals expanding voting rights for young people are on the move. Two cornerstone policies of the 100% Registration Project, setting a uniform voter registration age and allowing 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election to vote in primaries, have been met with great enthusiasm by state legislators hoping to increase youth participation. Setting a uniform voter registration age of 16 will increase opportunities for young people to register to vote when applying for their driver's license and help schools conduct more successful voter registration drives. This year, California, Rhode Island and Maryland have introduced legislation that would standardize the registration age.