MONTGOMERY –Secretary
of State John Merrill announces that the Secretary of State’s Office in
cooperation with the City of Montgomery successfully piloted a live electronic
balloting system for overseas military and civilian voters in the recent Montgomery
municipal runoff election on October 6, 2015.
“We want every military serviceman and woman that are
interested in voting to have the opportunity to receive their ballot
electronically, vote electronically, and have their ballot returned
electronically, as well as have their vote cast and counted just as they would
if they were at home with their family,” said Secretary Merrill. “Our goal is
to have this successful pilot project go statewide before the March 2016
Presidential primary. 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. I want to thank the City of Montgomery for allowing us to pilot the
electronic balloting system in its recent election.”
This system provided 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 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.
For more information about the services provided at the
Alabama Secretary of State’s Office, visit www.sos.alabama.gov
or call 334-242-7200.
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