DC Plans "Vote by Mail" Pilot Using Open Source Digital Voting Foundation Software
Monday, June 28, 2010 at 10:37PM Washington DC will launch a test of OSDV's software, for overseas voters. The District of Columbia’s Board of Election and Ethics (BOEE) announced that they will adopt OSDV's TrustTheVote technology as part of a digital “Vote by Mail” ballot transport service pilot project for overseas ballots. OSDV's John Sebes blogs about it here. Sebes explains that the D.C. pilot is not “online voting” per se, but a test of an additional form of digital transport for return of blank ballots. Absentee ballots can already be obtained digitally via email or web, and returned via email or fax.
The Navy Times reports, "During the November 2008 election, some 2,800 D.C. voters were sent ballots overseas, but fewer than half were actually returned and counted. Almost 300 were not counted because of problems like a voter forgetting to sign the envelope, and 36 were too late. The new system could help fix some of those problems."
If I may be allowed a brief editorial comment -- mindful that I have worked with OSDV as a client -- Yay, team!