elections and government technology Resources

Sponsored White Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

ZDNet Resources

Scottish election suffers from e-voting woes: The US isnt the only country with e-voting problems. In Scotland, elections last week were seriously marred by spoiled paper ballots, which led to technical problems with electronic counting systems that delayed election results, Computerworld reports. The supplier, DRS, told Computerworld UK that the problems were not about being...; Tags: Elections, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-05-11
Bloggers no fan of Clinton - but does it matter?: Sam Stein, writing at The Politico, identifies Hilary Clintons "blogger problem" but wonders if it makes a difference. Are politicians and politics-watchers losing perspective with their obsesson with the "netroots" when they should be watching their base? “Her model of doing politics is based on pandering to individual groups,”...; Tags: Elections, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-05-11
County agrees to share e-voting data after court challenge: After losing in court, Alameda County, CA, has agreed to share available election data from its e-voting machines, InfoWorld reports. The countys deputy counsel revealed in a court filing that it has tracked down 307 of 420 voting machines that may still contain vote tabulations from a disputed 2004 election...; Tags: Government technology, Elections; Blog posts 2007-05-04
Political mashups turn financial data into the stuff blogs are made of: Citizen activists are using mashups to shed new light on politics, lobbying and campaign financing, Wired reports. For instance Maplight.org generated a report on donations to campaigns for and against a California bill to ban clear-cutting in old growth forests. Besides Maplight.org, other sites that expose financial...; Tags: Elections, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-04-26
Politicians struggle to make Net impact: While presidential candidates are trying their best to stay hip with the Internet, with blogs, social networking, YouTube videos, and SecondLife spaces, theyre not quiting "getting" the heart of Internet culture, Reuters says. "They havent been very innovative," said Professor Helen Margetts, director of research at the Oxford...; Tags: International, Elections, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-04-19

A visit to John Edwards' virtual hang-out: At TechPresident, Ruby Sinreich offers a pretty in-depth of John Edwards space on Second Life. Somehow the campaigns think its important this year to play with all the geeky toys and Second Life is not exception. Sinreich visited the day Elizabeth Edwards cancer recurrence was announced, so the space...; Tags: Government technology, Elections; Blog posts 2007-04-12
MD Senate, House vote to scrap $65m e-voting system: Maryland moved a step closer to scrapping its $65 million e-voting system and switching to machines that produces a paper audit trail. The state Senate unanimously approved a bill to do just that. But even if the bill is ultimately signed into law, the change wouldnt happen until the 2010...; Tags: State &, Local Govt, Elections, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-04-09
Demo bill in House would overhaul e-voting law: Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) is the lead sponsor of HR 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, which has garnered dozens of co-sponsors, Ars Technica reports. HR 811 features several requirements that will warm the hearts of geek activists. It bans the use of computerized voting...; Tags: Government technology, Elections; Blog posts 2007-04-03
MySpace will run mock election in 2008: New Hampshires primary will no longer be the first election in the 2008 presidential race. MySpace announced plans to hold its own virtual election January 1 and 2, 2008, reports News.com. "Iowa and New Hampshire may be selecting delegates, but the MySpace vote will be the first test...; Tags: Government technology, Elections; Blog posts 2007-04-03
OH election workers sentenced for recount fraud: People who suspect the 2004 presidential election was stolen got a boost recently when two Ohio election workers were sentenced to prison for rigging a recount of that states election. According to the AP, Jacqueline Maiden, the election boards third-highest ranking employee and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer, each were...; Tags: recount, worker; Blog posts 2007-03-14
New e-voting rules could mean new machines would be scrapped: Several Pennyslvania counties say they may have to scrap their recently purchased voting machines - at a cost of several million dollars - if newly proposed rules become law, the Pittsburg Post-Gazette reports. The proposed change calls for all voting machines to print the type of ballot that can...; Tags: Elections, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-03-06
YouTube turns on political channels: With all those candidates and other politicians using YouTube to spread the word, the Google-owned site has created a channel to make it easier to find the latest message. The editor, one Steve, blogs on the site: Ill be working as YouTubes News & Politics Editor...; Tags: Government technology, Elections; Blog posts 2007-03-06
Reluctantly, ID gives up punch card voting: Idaho is the last state with old-fashioned manual punch card voting systems, but thats about to change. Ada County, Idaho is about to switch over to optical scan technology, the Idaho Stateman reports. County officials are not exactly pleased. Compared to the punch-card system, county officials say...; Tags: Government technology, State &, Local Govt, Elections; Blog posts 2007-02-23
First two labs accredited for voting machine testing: iBeta Software Quality Assurance and SysTest Labs have become the first labs to be accredited to test voting equipment against federal standards, Government Computer News reports. The Election Assistance Commission, which accredited the labs, first produced guidelines in 2005. “For the first time, the federal government is...; Tags: Government technology, Elections; Blog posts 2007-02-23
CA counties and cities push for all-mail elections: After all of the money spent, energy expended and ink spilled over electronic voting machines, it seems that there is a simpler way to vote that is more reliable and that could vastly improve participation: mail-in paper ballots. The Orange County Register interviewed a number of elections officials who...; Tags: Elections, Government technology, State &, Local Govt; Blog posts 2007-02-21
John Edwards goes crazy for social networks: Noting criticism that John Edwards site goes overboard with so many links to social networking sites - 24 of them - David All at TechPresident praises Edwards "messy" website. John Edwards use of 24 different social networking tools is smart. And its given me 24 more reasons to visit...; Tags: Government technology, Elections; Blog posts 2007-02-20
Candidates focus on Net campaigning: Writing in The Washington Post, EJ Dionne gives Barack Obama good odds to win over the Internet in the Democratic primary. Since the Internet has gone mainstream in politics, though, Hilary Clinton is sure to put up a good fight. While the Clinton-run Democratic establishment scoffed at MoveOn and the...; Tags: Government technology, Elections; Blog posts 2007-02-20
Feinstein asks for probe in FL election: Sen. Diane Feinstein of California is calling for a "top-to-bottom" investigation into the House race in Sarasota County, FL, where no one can explain why 18,000 ballots didnt include a vote for a hotly contested House race, CNets Anne Broache notes. Feinstein, the chairwoman of a Senate panel with...; Tags: Elections, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-02-18
TechPresident.com tracks the websites: With John Edwards, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama offering various levels of citizen interaction on their websites and campaigns, its only natural that a blog has sprung up to cover the emergence of Politics 2.0 sites. TechPresident.com is a blog dedicated to tracking the technical, social networking and various Web...; Tags: blog, Elections, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-02-12
FL guv wants to junk all touch-screen machines: In Florida, its back to the future. The state whose election irregularities sent the presidential election of 2000 to the Supreme Court and spawned a crisis in the trustworthiness of electronic voting machines wants to go back to all paper ballots. Gov. Charlie Crist will ask the Florida...; Tags: Government technology, State &, Local Govt, Elections, ballot, Charlie Crist, e-voting; Blog posts 2007-02-01