Newby's "Lehman Proposal": Funding Voting Technology Via Levy on Political Contributions?

Brian Newby’s latest ElectionDiary looks at a proposal by his colleague – Tabitha Lehman of Sedgwick County, KS – that would use a portion of political contributions to fund voting technology improvements. It’s a long shot, to be sure, but if nothing else it may kickstart a conversation about a problem that otherwise may run headlong into a fiscal buzzsaw of debt and taxpayer fatigue.

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Knight News Challenge on Elections Winners Announced

The Knight Foundation has announced the winners of its News Challenge on Elections, including 10 full project winners receiving at least $200,000 and another dozen prototype projects receiving $35,000 each. Congratulations to all the winners – including lots of familiar names – the result of all this work should be interesting to see!

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TGDC Meeting Suggests New Direction for Voting System Standards

The Technical Guidelines Development Committee announced recently that it will be convening public working groups to help with the voting system standards process. If successful, the process will open up to more voices and hopefully reduce the “innovation lag” between R&D and the market in the field of voting technology.

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California Begins Rollout of VoteCal, Long-Awaited Statewide Database

VoteCal, California’s new statewide voter registration database more than 10 years in the making, is beginning to roll out in a pilot phase this week. VoteCal is very important given its relation to several enacted and desired policy changes – and an aggressive implementation calendar that will have VoteCal in place for next year’s elections.

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Electiongeeks, Rejoice Some More: New Census Data on Registration and Voting in 2014

New Census data on registration and voting in 2014 shows several key trends, including continued high rates of early and absentee voting and that older people (65+) vote at more than two and half times the rate of younger Americans (18-34). While the data does have issues – namely, that it tends to over-report turnout because it is based on a survey – it’s a valuable dataset as the 2016 election races into view.

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Los Angeles County Goes Hollywood: Bloomberg Profile of New Voting System

Los Angeles County’s groundbreaking voting system work is familiar to many – but the project just got a much bigger national audience with a recent profile in BloombergPolitics. It’s a terrific look at a story that will almost certainly be a game-changer for jurisdictions nationwide struggling with what the PCEA called an “impending crisis” in voting technology.

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