The Los Angeles Times of February 15 has this story, saying Michael Ni, a California voter, recently signed a statewide initiative petition electronically. He hopes the San Mateo County Elections Department will give him an opinion as to whether his signature is valid or not. However, because he signed a statewide initiative petition (concerning marijuana policy) that has enough valid signatures statewide in any event, it seems possible that no definitive ruling concerning his individual signature will be made.

California is now in the season during which candidates running in the June 2010 primary are circulating signatures to get themselves on a primary ballot. Candidates who are members of parties that have registration membership under 5% of the state total need 150 signatures in lieu of a filing fee. Those signatures are due February 25. Ni would be more likely to get a ruling on the validity of an electronic signature if he changed his registration to membership in one of California’s four qualified minor parties (unless possibly he already is a member of such a party), and then if he signed for a candidate circulating such a petition. All of the signatures of such petitions are checked for validity. By contrast, generally the validity of statewide initiatives is determined with a random sample of signatures. Thanks to Michael Warnken for the link.