possibilities, same capacity, but it's something you might consider if you will be revving up your own vote in honor of veteran program this year. you might consider that as another angle for a program like that. any other final comments for the good of the whole body? please. secretary? >> there are many of us changing to different voting machines in the new round probably coming. one of the things we did in michigan that seemed to be successful is we pair with our local clerks who actually conduct elections and we took the gently used machines that were used to vote for presidents, congress people, their very own secretary of state, and we coded and got ballots from the printer for free or very little and we held elections with the teachers that we trained on their time -- on their time that they came in for training. and we got to have elections and many, many of the schools in oakland county, in michigan.

and it took all the mystery out of it. i thought it was for high school kids but it turned out as young as first grade were using them. i went to as many as i could. the kids were so excited to be able to vote. actually put their fists up in the air like they just won a big sporting event. i would encourage you if you have gently used voting machines, to encourage you to pair up with the teachers so that the kids are provided an opportunity, whether they're vote for what kind of ice cream they like or the homecoming queen or their student council, i think it's a very important lessons in civics that these machines are really, really easy to use and it's a lot of fun to see them go electronically usually from 152 to 153 and it was you as a child. >> great suggestion. secretary? ross miller from nevada. nevada has an early vote state. we make very extensive use of our early voting system.

well over half of the voters will have cast ballots in nevada prior to election day and when we implement early voting we put it in unusual locations. it goes in shopping malls and libraries, even supermarkets, which seems unusual to some. we may be the only jurisdiction in the country where you're likely to hear a call for a wet mop at voting booth number six but it works for us. one of the components that we use there that i think has been proven effective is that we purchase with hava funds voting trailers. they are trailers that are fully ada compliant that we can drag around anywhere in the county or the state that are fully equipped with voting machines. we can bring them to the campuses. they rotate throughout the voting period and are at different locations just about every day. those trailers are also available in the event of an emergency on election day to be pulled out and substituted as a polling location. we've had those in place the

last couple of cycles and it's proven very effective. >> great idea. >> secretary reed? >> i'll throw out one more. in 2008, our web master said we ought to have an app for election results. i said, why? you know. and he did it very quickly. and i thought, well, who would even know we're doing this? why? and that night as i went through the various, you know, functions, election night functions up in the seattle, bellevue area, people kept grabbing me, this app is terrific, sitting there, you know, going like this. and so i suggest to you that this is a great way to get out word about the election results. >> thank you. >> we do have one more item for general discussion. and it's the plans that we might

put into motion around nass or individually around nass voter registration month. the idea that's come forward about a national voter own state and also people's opinions about whether this should be part of what we do as nass in terms of working together in support of national voter registration month and a specific day. let's see, is there any update that would be important for us to hear before we entered into a general conversation? >> we have a resolution that says september is national voter registration month. we originally had a day, the day kept changing. other things kept coming into conflict. so we went with the month. and it does -- it's not just election year, it's every year, september is national voter registration month. but if you're looking for a day for 2012, i don't see how that

would be a bad thing. >> are any states glued in, making plans? is this on your radar screens yet? please. >> debra bowen, california. this may not apply to everybody, but we do -- we do drive-thru voter registration. so if you've got an old bank that has drive-thru lanes or that's not using them or a restaurant, and we basically just sent people out with clipboards. the last time we did it we had bicycles, wheelchairs, skateboards, pedestrians, every kind of device or human power comes through, and you could see our people out, you know, sticking their head in the driver's window -- side window with a clipboard.

and it always gets really great tv coverage because the visual is good and we have a statue of liberty costume, somebody from elections always dresses up in that. the last guy that dressed up as the statue of liberty with the big bushy beard was the best statue of liberty ever. it's california, i don't know. but it's one that i think more than any other voter registration thing we've done draws a lot of television media, which is often very difficult to get. you know, it highlights that the deadline is coming up and we had a gentleman who came through it about ten to 12:00 on the last day. and he took his feet out the window and he said, i'm in my house slippers. i have never registered to vote before. i'm 59 years old, but i'm going to do it this time. and that's the kind of story that you, you know, that we all go to our graves with.

so if you do it, send me some pictures because it would be really fun to see the different regional. of course, if you do it in some states you're going to need to be in a snowmobile suit. >> thank you. anyone planning for special events for national voter registration month or national voter registration day? not yet. oh, please. >> so on the non-profit side, the number of youth organizations and other civic organizations have been talking about the same idea, so maybe there's an opportunity to collaborate. we, again, we're in the same situation as you were saying where we pick the month of september. but then we need one day to organize around as a community so we picked september 25th. and all at rock the vote i'm more of what they call the stakes, so i manage all of our operations and make sure that they're working very effectively and efficiently. we still bring what my staff

call our sizzle, which are the artists and celebrities that can make a day like that actually become more promoted and more well-known. so if there is a day that you all pick, do let me know and maybe we can collaborate or september 25th works for some of you, we're asking every one of our 150 musicians and artists on tour to take that day and talk about it and to actually join us on the streets to register voters. we're asking all our corporate partners to turn over whether it's the facebook home page or google home page on that one day and promote voter registration. it's still in the idea form, but it might be something we could work together on. >> september 25th, pretty set, looks like that will be the day. any reactions or questions or thoughts about how we as nass might participate, might partner with this?

it seems like we're now beginning to get into the thought process of what do we do with all of our redistricting, what's going to happen as we begin to roll out programs. today's agenda has been pretty far reaching about a lot of different exciting ideas from ipads all of the way out. so i feel like we've gathered a lot of information. we've sparked a lot of ideas. we have conversations that we will continue within the committee thinking about the summer but also looking into the fall, voter participation will rise in the media's interests over the course of the year. secretary schultz and i will be getting out to you with the information from this event, with the links and stuff, working with staff. but we also want to pull together a phone call very soon to begin looking into the future and making use of your expertise

as we keep nass' real leadership permission on voter registration participation on the cutting edge. any last-minute, comments, questions, suggestions, before we adjourn? secretary merrill? please come to this microphone. there, that one. >> just a thought on a question i have out there along these lines. i don't know how many states are considering online voter registration. i'm introducing it this year in connecticut. but if, you know, somehow to get a survey of where people are on this, if there are others considering it because it seems to me that's a great tool for the coming fall in terms of voter participation. so maybe if this could -- committee could look into it and see where other people are on this. i know that rock the vote people are using the online registration. i mean, that's something you would see as a tool for registering young people. i don't know if anyone else is working on this issue.

>> i think there's a whole lot of activity on the issue. i think there's at least one major report about where it is. but i also think there have been some very recent developments and also some states, i know in nevada we were talking about what had been their preliminary results as they've stepped on this process. i think secretary reed had some new information. so one of the things we'll do as a take-away from this is people would like to hear from is online voter registration, are there any new stories, new studies, you know, just new data. and if you are moving something or something is moving in your state legislature, let us know and if there's a way that the sharing of information can go a little more quickly, the states who have adopted this have had excellent results. and when those results are actually put in front of legislators and also the cost benefit, it's pretty clear that this is going to be an important part of the future and the more we can use real data for

actually having conversations the better we'll be. and we've got, i think, some excellent data. anyone who's moving on this agenda in your state right now or any of you early adopters want to say anything before we close? >> sorry. don't mean to talk so much, but do i have advice, because i tried two different sessions. and secretary brown did down in oregon and worked very closely with me. and i coached her a lot and some of the others. i found really important with the legislators come paired to registration by mail is a more secure process because we actually require them to have a driver's license or state id issued by the driver's license agency. so these people to do this, have to have gone before a state official, have their picture

taken, sign it and we log into that database. they assume we won't know who these people are, is there somebody really there? that is a key point selling this before the state legislature. >> secretary. >> we've had a hard time in ohio convincing the legislature this is the right way to go. in addition to the security issue we feel most definitely it will help us enhance vote securi security, we also believe it will save at least a dollar a registrati registration. most of that saves will accrue at the local level, where they will not have to key in the information, it can be electron electronic alally transferred a

at a time there are tight budgets for officials, we are advocating on the security side but also cost saving side and we hope we will eventually prevail in that discussion. >> tom, louisiana. we had that in place several years and been wildly successful with it. the only thing i suggest to you or any other state, and i agree with mr. reed and others, i sold it on an economic basis. but make sure -- at least we do, if you register online, the first time you vote, you have to do it in person. you cannot ask for a mail ballot. the reason we, we use that point to verify the signature online. like mr. reed said, if you don't have a problem with photo id issue and what have you. we have had no problems with it whatsoever. not on this same subject but while i have the mike. a lot of you are experiencing

difficulties with picture id at the point of voting. louisiana that that eight or nine years, never challenged. i think the secret of our success, we too not turn y-- do turn you away if you don't have picture id. we allow you to sign a point of affidavit, date of birth and mother's maiden name and who you are and we don't turn you away. i think that is maybe the secret getting around some court challenges you have. >> thank you. i wanted to remind folks, nass.org, our association website, has a tremendous amount of information and online tools and gadgets and widgets to use as background re-rens.

also the 2012 presidential primary and caucus, the calendar, tomorrow is big but just the beginning. please make use of that and if you're talking to reporters or media who have broader interest, be sure to reference them to that site. governor, was that you grabbing the mike there? >> thank you. on the secretary's point from louisiana, i wanted to ask the question, do you require people to vote in person the first time after they register online or how do you end up verifying? >> vote by mail. the fact they had to register before a driver's license officer. the picture is taken and we get the signature and compare that signature, because we're vote by mail with how they sign the

affidavit on the envelope and allow voter registration challenges. >> we're trying to make the system auditable at each step and probably go closer to louisiana's advice first. >> one question on that, how we're designing our program, the only way you can register online is to have a driver's license or a state id where you would have had to provide your signature already and we can take from the bmv. we have them click a box at the bottom that authorities them to use the signature on file so we avoid that step and have a signature on file for all the new reg straistrants immediatel. >> a number of our vendors here have been very active. arizona, terrific system,

terrific success. i highly encourage you to talk to them as well. this is a big process. i encourage you to work with the dmvs and bring the photos into the polling places and don't have to fool around with things we're engaged in now. the technology is going to transform itself over and over. our ability to be flexible and innovative is important. sharing information among our offices and state is going to be crucial, so we can keep ourselves on the forefront. we don't want to be driven, want to be leaders. we have to be active helping each other stay in that leadership role this year. we want to make sure this voter

participation committee is thinking how more and more, particul particularly young voters but all voters participating and do that in a way, make sure we're able to handle our jobs, do them well, with less money, more people, more pressure snrchlt t. the more we share our ideas and practices, the better job we will do. thank you so etch -- thank you so much, everybody. we're quitting a couple minutes early, so make good use of that time.

good afternoon. i'm albany state beth chapman and president of the secretary of state. i'm proud to present the 2012

preparations with a roster of speakers and one i will have the pleasure of introducing in a few minutes. as a bit of background, our election committee holds regular conference calls to keep up with many developments state offices are facing each day. last november, during one of our calls, we decided it would be beneficial to have a true dialogue with members of our congress. we wanted to talk about concerns about the impact of federal law as they relate to elections. at that time we had just received a letter that was signed by 196 democratic members of the house urging secretaries of state to protect voting rights by opposing new state measures that would quote make it harder for eligible voters to register to vote, end of quote.

while we have invited a number of speakers and guests from the list that signed the letter, none of them could join us today. i was wondering if anyone in the room who might have had dialog with mr. hoyer might have any comments at this time? or if he sent anybody to speak on his behalf? no one? okay. at this time, i feel it appropriate as president of the organization to speak and to say that i believe this organization has a collective interest in ensuring fair and honesty elections and i believe that policy disagreements and discussions are healthy and inevitable, however, the blanket from mr. hoyer to all members of

this organization is not. his stating that quote, partisan plays, end of quote, are being made, that within itself is partisan. this organization is not partisan. we all take oaths to follow the laws that are create by our legislative bodies not to follow either party's philosophy as they relate to voting or to any other dealings to the office of secretary of state. our laws and preferences will vary from state to state but we as an organization need to send a loud and clear message that our ability and integrity to follow the law and administrate those elections and laws does not and will not vary. questioning whether members of this organization, regardless of political party, can oversee those elections in a professional manner and ethical manner is insulting to the credibility and history of this organization. and it is my job as president to

ensure that it does not divide this organization. does anyone else have anything other to say? i cannot see that far, can you tell me who that? chris kobach. >> yes, madame president. i think all of us received the letter from representative hoyer and it was addressed to every secretary of state in the country and i too was disturbed by the letter and although i did offer my own response in defense of my particular state's changes of its election laws. i think it's appropriate for this body to respond in some fashion because it was addressed to all of us collectively. i drafted a resolution that is very short and to the point and it's nonpartisan. and it's balanced. it simply says that we all have the right to do whatever we believe will improve our election procedures and that that can include a variety of different things and that you know, nass stands for the

nonpartisan and federal iist principle that the states may pursue their course provided they are pursued in good faith and that they are consistent with the united states constitution. i'll send around some copies of this and pass it around. i would like to introduce the resolution in response to mr. hoyer's letter to all of us. >> is this something that you want to pass around and discuss at the end of this session? is that your intent? >> however you want to proceed is fine. >> okay, we will do that then. in the meantime we have one brave congressman, one righteous man that joined us today -- >> did he sign a letter? >> well, no, i'm afraid he didn't. there were many invited to come, but he accepted. you'll know why he joined us today, he is one of our favorites in that he has been a member of nass, he was indiana's

secretary of state for years, he was the president of this organization and in the leadership of it for many, many years. he is a personal friend to many of us. and he worked very hard arrange and i understand it, rearrange, de-arrange his schedule to be with us today and not only do we benefit from his experience as a former state election official and thus his true understanding of what we do, he is also a member of the house administration committee and therefore in a position to address election law at the federal level. congressman todd rokit ara is er to hear your concerned and he is here for dialogue. he is not here to give a 50 minute speech and bore us to death. he would not do that to you. he is here honestly to take questions and provide you with answers. so at this time, please give a

great nass welcome to a great former nass member, congressman todd rokita. >> thank you, beth, i really appreciate that introduction. the reason i'm hear we did have some scheduling issues as many of you do as well. it's nothing new. i know what happens being a former nass president. i know what gets happened to you by leslie reynolds if you do not come at the appropriate time to do your duty. i'm here because i love this organization. and i still love it from the new perch of my elected responsibilities. some of you have, i got meet on the way in and rekindle some old friendships and i appreciate that very much. some of you asked me how i like my new job and robin asked if

she could kiss my ring. i'll hear about that later. and i said, you know, to robin and others, i said you know, the job of being an elected representative especially in our nation's capitol is a high honor and i say this back in the state, too, there's nothing like being an elected state-wide official. especially when are you the chief election officer. it's been the highest honor of my life and i credit a lot of that to what i learned here from many of you, and from this organization and the way the organization conducts itself. in all honesty is what brings me back here today. i don't want go on with the blah blah blah. i do want to say thank you for having me and let's get to it. >> no softballs with this gentlemen.

who has the first question? >> wow. >> okay, well thank you for being with us. >> i'm with you until 4:00. or until you ask me to leave. >> thank you for being with us, i'm lieutenant-governor in alas alaska. while i've been involved in elections for a long time one way or the other i'm new to the business of running an election though. i have to say i had not paid much attention to the provisions in the constitution that kind of share power on elections between the congress and the states. but i do feel as this proposed resolution has, that it's the state's responsibility and that many states delegate it to local governments as well or work with local governments. i guess my questions for you are number one, how do you feel about the idea of actually fining states for not following fe