httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1sdtiwCJ9s
Voters in Santa Clara County can now register via iPhone and iPad for upcoming elections.
An Oakland company called Verafirma has been pushing an app that collects signatures via iPhone, iPad and other touchscreen devices. First touted as a way to sign petitions, Verafirma works much the same way bank technology does to accept digital John Hancocks. It doesn’t store signatures electronically. Once sent, they are printed out and when the ballot is cast, that paper signature is compared to the electronic one.
Verafirma’s efforts paid off, if just in the nick of time: the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters decided last week that voter signatures collected via electronic devices as well as those on paper are also valid. Voter registration ends May 24 for state primary elections taking place on June 8.
While the decision may have come too late to influence voter turnout in these elections, it has been speculated that e-registration, where voters just need to download the app for their devices and send it in, may boost numbers and provide a push for California’s upcoming pot legalization vote in November 2010.
County Registrar Jesse Durazo made the decision to permit the electronic signatures after the county board of supervisors and county counsel gave their blessings to the proposal by Verafirma, a Silicon Valley company whose partners include San Jose political strategist Jude Barry, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
Verafirma lost a lawsuit in neighboring San Mateo last month, when Superior Court Judge George Miram ruled that a ballot initiative submitted with electronic signatures did not conform to state election laws.
Bolstered by this recent victory, Verafirma co-founder Jude Barry told SF Weekly the company plans to appeal the decision.
Or, as the company’s Twitter account put it: “Our first success. 1 down, 3,199 counties to go.”
