A ballot initiative to authorize online voting failed to qualify for the Nov. 2 ballot on Monday, after proponents were unable to collect and submit enough signatures.
Supporters of the initiative were seeking to have the California Secretary of State develop an online voting system that provides registered voters the option to cast an online ballot from an official online voting machine, located at a polling place in the next statewide election, and, for subsequent elections, from any location and device – including personal devices.
If passed, the initiative would have required procedures to be established to protect the secrecy of online ballots, including procedures to confirm the identity of the voter.
The initiative would also require the state to criminalize efforts to interfere with online voting systems and specify penalties.
One-time costs to the government, according to the Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance, were estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, and ongoing costs estimated to be tens of millions of dollars or more, likely to be paid – at least in part – by the state each year to maintain a new online voting system and implement other provisions of the measure.
An initiative that would have authorized electronic signature gathering for initiatives, referendum, and recall petitions also failed to collect the required signatures to make it to the ballot. ■