The Utah Supreme Court will hear Farley Anderson’s lawsuit over whether electronic signatures are valid, on June 2, at 11 a.m. Anderson is an independent candidate for Governor this year. Utah requires 1,000 signatures. Anderson submitted 960 valid paper signatures and 130 electronic signatures. The counties accepted the electronic signatures as valid, but the state elections office rejected them.
The ACLU will represent Anderson. See this story. Also see here for BAN’s prior coverage of this case, including a link to the web page that was used by voters who wanted to sign the Anderson petition electronically. Utah doesn’t normally have gubernatorial elections in midterm years, but this year’s gubernatorial election is a special election because the Governor elected in 2008 resigned without finishing his term.
I can see some concerns with ensuring — with some certainty — that if John Doe or Jane Doe name appears on the electronic petition, its really he or she that signed it…but otherwise sounds like a great use of technology.
Nevada DOE is going to begin importing signatures from DMV so folks can register to vote online. One other state is already doing this