Eight Californians in Santa Clara county have registered to vote using the touch-screen technology of an iPhone.
Santa Clara County's decision to accept the digitally signed forms marks the first known time e-signatures have been used for voter registration.
The technology, promoted by Silicon Valley start-up called Verafirma, suffered a setback last month when a San Mateo judge rejected the submission of a digital signature to qualify initiative petitions. But, as Ken McLaughlin reports in the Mercury News, the Santa Clara's move to accept the signatures clears the way for all 58 counties to accept e-signatures for voter registration.
Some election officials have raised concerns about possible voter fraud, as well as privacy and security issues, in regard to electronic signatures. But the founders of Verafirma point out that Wells Fargo Bank is so confident in the technology that it allows customers to open a bank account with an electronic signature.
The new technology also appears to be speeding ahead of current election laws. Nicole Winger, spokeswoman for California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, expressed some concern that the state's election codes don't mention things such as the three-year-old iPhones or the brand-new iPad. But Bowen does not have the authority to tell the county registrar to reject the signatures of the Santa Clara County voters who agreed to be guinea pigs, Winger said. Unless someone sues to stop Durazo from registering the voters, the electronic signatures will stand.
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