Ariz.: Net Vote Clears Hurdle

(CBS)  Arizona Democrats' plan to vote online in the March 11 presidential primary cleared one of the last hurdles Thursday when the Department of Justice said the plan passed muster.

In a letter to party officials, Joseph D. Rich, acting chief of the department's Voting Section, said Attorney General Janet Reno has no objections to the Internet voting plan.

Still, the department intends to monitor the election for any violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Rich said.

E-Vote Notes

On January 24, Alaska Republicans held a statewide straw poll that allowed voting by Internet in three remote districts. In all, 35 people voted in the non-binding election. (source: Anchorage Daily News)

The Pentagon is sponsoring a pilot program through the Federal Voting Assistance Program that will allow some 250 military personnel based overseas to vote online via government-controlled computers in the November general election.

In December 1999, the White House commissioned a one-year study from the National Science Foundation to assess Internet voting for the nation as a whole.

One concern cited in the letter was the chance that participation for affluent whites would be increased more than that of minorities.

"We are willing to continue to work with you prior to this election to ensure that the plans for minority outreach provide effective participation opportunities for minority voters, particularly Native American voters," Rich wrote.

State Party Chairman Mark Fleisher said the decision means things will more than likely proceed as planned.

"This pretty much says we can go ahead with our election," Fleisher said. "It also says [the Department of Justice] is going to be looking over our shoulder."

Arizona is one of 16 states that must get pre-approval from the Justice Department for any changes in election rules because of Voting Rights Act violations in the 1970s.

One obstacle for the on-line vote still remains. The Virginia-based Voting Integrity Project has filed a federal lawsuit, contending Internet voting would hurt voting opportunities for minorities and the poor.

The lawsuit cites the U.S. Department of Commerce's 1988 "digital divide" study that shows White households as more than twice as likely to have Internet access than Black and Hispanic households.

"When you make voting more convenient for one sector ... you've got unequal access," VIP President Deborah Phillips told CBSNews.com last month. Her group also contends that the potential for manipulation can not be underestimated.

A three-judge panel is scheduled to hear the case in the U.S. Justice Court in Phoenix next week.

Democras dispute Phillips' claim:

"This election from the beginning has been about inclusion, acceptance and outreach," Fleisher said. "It makes no sense that we would want to disenfranchise Hispanics and Native American voters."

Democrats plan to set up about 125 polling places where party voters could fill out traditional paper ballots or use a computer terminal to vote on-line March 11.

As part of an early-voting option March 7-10, voters could log into the party's Web site and cast their votes from any computer with Internet access.

The party has added 43 polling locations since its 1996 election. New sites include polls on the Navajo, Hopi and Tohono O'Odham reservations as well as at Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona and Arizona State University, where the combined student total is more than 100,000.







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