A district encompassing Greater Seattle is reportedly set to become the first in which every voter can cast a ballot using their smartphone.
The King Conservation District, a state environmental agency that encompasses Seattle and more than 30 other cities, details the plan at a news conference.
About 1.2 million eligible voters could take part. The new technology will be used for a board of supervisors election, and ballots will be accepted from Wednesday through election day on Feb. 11.
King County voters will be able to use their name and birthdate to log in to a Web portal through the Internet browser on their phones, says Bryan Finney, the CEO of Democracy Live, the Seattle-based voting company providing the technology.
Once voters have completed their ballots, they must verify their submissions and then submit a signature on the touch screen of their device. Finney says election officials in Washington are adept at signature verification because the state votes entirely by mail. That will be the way people are caught if they log in to the system under false pretenses and try to vote as someone else. The King County elections office plans to print out the ballots submitted electronically by voters whose signatures match and count the papers alongside the votes submitted through traditional routes.
"Voters who use the smartphone portal also have the option to not submit their ballots electronically," notes NPR. "They can log in, fill out the ballot and then print it to either drop off at designated drop-off locations or put in the mail."
Exclusive: Seattle-Area Voters To Vote By Smartphone In 1st For U.S. Elections https://www.npr.org/2020/01/22/798126153/exclusive-seattle-area-voters-…
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