Maryland city to test new election software | Politics In Color

Maryland city to test new election software | Politics In Color:

Scantegrity comes to Takoma Park

End-to-end system to be tested in April, used in November

Takoma Park, Md. has long been considered a bastion of progressive thinking. The town is a nuclear-free zone, the city, by statute, is forbidden to do business with the country of Burma (Myanmar), and residents must apply for a city permit to cut down trees even on private property.

And the citys progressive thinking doesnt stop with environmental and social issues, it also extends to elections. Takoma Park allows non-citizens to vote in local elections, uses instant-runoff voting and recently, more than 20 election integrity advocates, poll workers and concerned citizens gathered at a community center to discuss Scantegrity, an end-to-end voting system built on top of an optical scan system that allows voters to confirm that their ballots were counted as cast after the election.

The November 2009 municipal elections in Takoma Park will mark the first time that Scantegrity is used for a binding public election but first, it will be tested in a mock election on April 11 in conjunction with the Takoma Park Arbor Day celebration."