Call Kathy Schmidt 232-6460 if you can participate. The highlight of the hearing was a distinguished panel of national experts on elections. They concluded that elections will change more in the next 20 years than they have in the last 200. This is driven by technology, civil rights, civil liberties and reduced resistance to change. The changes will be expensive requiring machines, more sophisticated staff and the need for greater security.
Many advances are available but standards and training are needed.
Mail voting, permanent absentee voting, a variety of voting machines and even the internet are being used or considered. All of the new means require extensive planning. The recount problems e are so familiar with now must be built into the system. Discouragingly, the experts believe that the Florida fiasco will have a deleterious effect on voting nationwide for a number of years. We will also have precinct based optical scanners for 2002.