Montgomery, Ala. – Secretary of State John H. Merrill
announces that the Secretary of State’s office in cooperation with the City of
Montgomery, Alabama, will pilot a live electronic balloting system for overseas
military and civilian voters in the upcoming Montgomery municipal election on
August 25, 2015, and run-off election if scheduled. This system will provide
Montgomery municipal voters who are living overseas an opportunity to have
instantaneous participation and secure access to the voting process as
established by Alabama law. This pilot project is a step toward planning full
implementation of the electronic balloting system for Alabama’s military and
civilian voters who are outside the territorial limits of the United States.
The Alabama Overseas Voting Advisory Committee recently determined that
absentee balloting for overseas voters could be conducted by a secure process.
Electronic balloting will help ensure deployed voters and other Alabama
citizens residing overseas have immediate access to their absentee ballot and
bypass postal dilemmas of the past that may have discouraged participation in
the process.
With the implementation of this electronic balloting pilot program, Alabama
becomes one of the first states to employ an entirely secure electronic voting
system. However, the voter is provided the option of whether they would like to
use mail or the electronic option for receiving and returning the absentee
ballot.
The trial run for the new online system will be conducted for the Montgomery
municipal election in August 2015.
“I want to thank the City of Montgomery for allowing us to pilot the electronic
balloting system in its upcoming election. This partnership will bring together
the resources of the Secretary of State’s office and the City of Montgomery to
help ensure that overseas service members and U.S citizens residing overseas
are able to fully participate in the election process. It is incumbent upon us
as election officials to leverage technology wherever we can to facilitate the
voting process, especially for voters like our members of the military who
sacrifice so much in service to our country,” stated Secretary Merrill.
For more information about the services provided at the Alabama Secretary of
State’s Office, visit www.sos.alabama.gov.
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