District of Columbia to Adopt TrustTheVote Technology for Overseas Voter Support in September Primary

We're pleased to echo the announcement by the District of Columbia's Board of Election and Ethics (BOEE) that they will adopt TrustTheVote technology as part of a pilot project to support the delivery and return of overseas ballots. In Washington D.C.’s September primary election, open-source technology from the TrustTheVote Project will be used to digitally deliver and return the absentee voting kits of overseas, military and absentee voters. This pilot project will test a new form of digital “Vote by Mail” ballot transport service.

The BOEE's announcement has the details, but the gist is this:

• Some overseas and military voters are in danger of their absentee ballots not being counted, due to delays in postal delivery back to the BOEE.
• As a result some voters use fax or email for digital return of marked ballots, but these timely methods have the side-effect of compromising the integrity and anonymity of the ballot.
• The pilot project will test a Web-based alternative process that is no less timely, but lacks these side-effects, and otherwise use same familiar methods of absentee ballot casting and counting that voters and election officials use today.
• The use of TTV's open source software is a key part of meeting the pilot project's goals for public visibility of open technology and transparent election operations.

We'll be saying plenty more about these efforts as we along, you can be sure!

-- EJS