about $75,000, $76,000 in you include the printers. so we had 89 voters with disablities use i pad technology, to give you a comparative, 86 voters voted in the independent party primary election during that primary sompt we had more voters with disablities use this ipad technology than have used our computer stations for several years so they are excited about it as well. just to clarify, the tablet does not, you do not actually vote on the tablet, you use it to mark the ballot and then circumstantiit talks to the printer and then it prints a ballot. in oregon we like to have a paper trail. and we wanted on have that. the written materials are

available on your flash drive, so you can go there. i want to share two quick stories and hopefully i can get this to work. i was able to watch a couple of voters go out and use the technology and one voter i watched, she had limited vision, so for her, by using the tablet technology, she was able to read the ballot for the first time by increasing the font. she was never able to read her ballot for herself, so that was exciting for her. before i came out here, i went and visited assisted living facilities and watched another senior voter, use the tablet technology to vote. and the voting assistance team gave her the option to vote on a paper ballot, her normal way of voting or the tablet and it was fun to watch her she went ahead and marked her ballot using the tablet, the technology and then they asked her if she wanted to

go back to the written ballot once she used the technology and this elderly voter said no, i liked using the technology. so, we are hearing from folks that they really like it for folks that are blind, the tablet has the ability to actually read the ballot and in the future we hope to read the voter's pamphlpet and you can work in language capability as well. i'll pass it around so you can say a look at it. with we believe we were the first jurisdiction in the united states to use this as a tool. very convenient and very accessible for our voters. thanks. [ applause ] >> it's very exciting. we would like to turn the time over the secretary cobak to speak about voter outreach.

>> thank you secretary schultz, this will be a short presentation, we were going to present a video, because of the lighting needs of the networks covering this we were not able to do that, so i'll direct you to a website, and i'll direct you to your own later we have been discussing the great activity at the state level. there were laws passed changing and improving whatever the voting procedures are in the various states and those changes came in all shapes and sizes. we in kansas enacted the secure and fair elections act and used that information to try to, you know, try to drive up voter participation as well. and we sent out an rsvp to media consultants to come up with ideas for how the campaign could be effective and we had a

creative one that was in our bidding process and it's a play on the old "got milk" ads you may remember. and our ad campaign has photo id, we send people to the website and they learn about the requirement office the photo id law and learn requirements and and helpful places to go to download all the materials they need. and so we are having good success with that. if you want to check it out, you can see the look of our ads, we do not have the information yet. the early results suggest that it's working. we have got the law in place, and we are encouraging, and we are pushing these ads out to the public and encouraging people to participate and we had a local election, you know in your state, most local elections have very low participation rates. in kansas we are lucky to get

above 20%, you are doing great above 25%. in one of the local elections where we use this campaign, we got up to 39% turnout, for again, a local election is really quite good. so the early results suggest that it's going well and i encourage you to doing something similar if you do anything in your state for public election laws, one other point i would make is we have a cyber civics project and one idea that we had to lure people in to the web page, people being adults and kids, that can benefit from the civics education is to have a 20 question quiz, how much do you know about your constitutional rights and the history of kansas. we can merge things together, the state's history and education about the state's constitution, once we suck them in with the quiz, we have access to all the resources and a whole mini curriculum. and i think that many of your

s states are probably the same way, resources is thin about your state's history so we try to fill that gap with a pretty robust cyber civics program on our website sam? >> you can go to our kansas secretary of state website and there's a portal there for the quiz and the other one has voter id.com. thanks. >> thank you. >> [ applause ] yep. >> thank you for all the great presentations, it's exciting just to see and i'm so glad attitu at our conference we have been able to do this. we have a little of time if there's quick other reports from other states? not to put any of you on the

spot. secretary reid? please. >> i mentioned earlier in the conference that secretary merrill and i are involved in our state public affairs network which is analogous to c-span and needless to say it's a great vehicle for people to become better informed about their government. they are interested in doing in coming and doing a presentation to us, it's a national association of public affairs networks and interested in partnerships, perhaps with the secretary of states, around the country and wanted to know if you were interested in doing it? i could arrange for the full conference or voter participation committee. >> we will take that information in and make it as part of our discussion planning.

>> i don't know whether it would be more realistic to wait until they are back from the winter conference. >> we can yes, lieutenant governor? >> in alaska we will have to send out a voter card to every voter in the state with the redistricting that is happening. so, we are in the process of redesigning the voter card and i would be interested in suggestions from other secretaries on how that works in your state, we are going to try to tie it to a mobile app so it can show you where your precinct is and bring you to an updated ballot and i hope i can find room for the alaska flag song on the back. we will see. i would be interested in what other folks have done, and if there's software premade on that, we are interested in that, too. >> i think that all of on you us

are just now sort of getting to that point and if this is something that we can put out and get more feedback, we have an idea? >> yes, louisiana started prior to the october primary, we have on a smartphone on, where you can now pull up your individual information, how you are registered and brings you to your precinct by a gps map and that is important, and pulls up to review from the comfort of your home, so you can get familiar with it. we are not certain we are the first state that has done it. but we have it available. it's been

out -- i got a text myself. we receives hundreds of texts from them directly to us and gave them the -- i found texting to be effective on election day for those people out moving around. >> for those that could not hear, great success in mississippi in using texting before and on election day of course i think that there are a number of states that are stepping into that technology. thank you. others? secretary? >> thank you. one of the south dakota has a number of the where do i vote widgets so people can find out

where to vote on their primary and election day and something that i wanted to do since taking office and we have been testing it on a number of communities is for the smaller elections, your cityctelections and getting tha sample ballot using same system, so that people are becoming moro to the secretary of state site and it will tell me where to vote for any election, whether it's the big ones or small ones, that has been successful in the communities that we tested so far. thank you. others? i want to share an idea that we are talking about in minnesota, but i think it's a refreshment so you do. we found in our vote in honor of veteran program really does touch some people who are discouraged or have not really connect to the voting system and

that whole program had really brought them into a new participation and keeping in mind, this is the anniversary of the civil war. we are beginning to talk about a vote in honor of a civic war veteran as a slight change and perhaps a new angle on that. not every state has a, perhaps, the same possibility, same capacity, but it's something you may consider if you are reving up your own vote in honor of veteran program, you may consider it as another angle for a program like that. any other final comments for the good of the whole body? please. secretary? >> with many of us changing to different voting machines in the new round coming, one of the things that we did in michigan was we paired with our local

clerks that conduct elections and we took the gently used machines and we coded and got ballots from printers for free and held elections for teachers that we trained on their time they came in for training and we got to have elections in many schools in oakland county in michigan but as young as first grade was using them t kids were so excited to vote. they put their fists up in the air like they won a big sporting event. so i would encourage people if they have good used, gently used voting machines, pair up with the teachers to see the kids voting. whether it's voting for their ice cream or student council, it's important lesson in civics that these machines are really,

really easy to use and it's a lot of fun to see them go electronically from 152 to 153 and it was you as a child. >> great suggestion. secretary ross? >> ross miller from nevada. nevada is an early vote state and we make good use of our early voting system, more than half of the voters will have cast votes provider to election day, we put our polls stations in odd places, like the mall or grocery stores. 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 fully ada complaint, we can drag them around anywhere in the county or state, 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 available in the event of an emergency on election day to be pulled out and substituted as a polling location. we have had them in place the last couple of cycles and it's proven effective. >> great idea. >> secretary reid? >> ine more, 2008, our web master said, we ought to have an app for election results and i said why, you know? and he did it very quickly. and i thought, well, who would even know we are doing this? and why? and that night as i went through the various, you know, functions, election night

functions up in the seattle area, people are saying this app is terrific. and they are sit tting there dog this. so i suggest to you that it's a great way to get out the election results. >> thank you, we do have one more item for general discussion. and it's the that we might put into motion around nass or individually around voter registration month and the idea that has come far voter registr. we want to know if any states have been thinking about this and people's opinions about whether this should be a parts of what we do as pporting voter month and a specific day? is there an update that would be important to hear general

conversation? >> well, we have a resolution that says that 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 a month and it does year, it's every ye. september is national voter registration month. if you are looking for a day for 2012, i don't see how that is bad. >> are any states glued in, is this on your radars yet? please >> debra bowen, california, this may not a apply to everyone, we do drive through voter registration. so, if you have got an old bank that had drive through lanes and not using them or a restaurant,

boards. the last time we can did it. we had bicycles, wheelchairs, skate boards, pedestrians, every kind of device at work or human could see our people out sticking their head in the driver's side window with a clip board and it always gets great tv coverage because did visual is good, and we have a statue of liberty costume, somebody elections dresses up in that and the last guy that did it, with this big beard was the best ev. maybe it's california, i don't know. it's one that i think that more than any voter registration has done, draws a lot of media

attention, which is difficult to get, highlights the deadline is coming up. we had a gentlemen that came up on the last day and stuck his feet out the window and said, i've never registered to vote and i'm 59 years old and i'm going to do it this time and i am in my house slippers. that is the kind of story had that we go to our graves with. if you do it, send me pictures it would be fun to see. if you do it in some states you'll need to be in a snow mobile suit. >> thank you. anyone planning for special events for national voter registration month or national voter registration day? not yet. oh, please. >> sure. so, on the nonprofit 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, where we pick the month of september. but then we need one day to orund as a community 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 of your court partners to actually 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? >> [ inaudible ]. >> 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 position on promoting voter participation on the cutting edge. so any or 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. se maybe if this could -- 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 reid 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? >> so, i don't mean to talk so much, bud, i do have advice, because i've been at two different sessions and down in oregon and closely with me and i coached a lot and others, and i found really important with the

legislators is that point out that compared to registration by mail, it is a more secure process, because we absolutely require hem to have a driver's license or state i.d. issued by the driver's license agencies. so these people to do this have to have gone before state officials, have their picture taken, sign it, and then we connect into that database and they are surprised, because they always assume just because it's online somehow we aren't going to know who these people are, is there really somebody there, and that is a real key point in selling this before the state legislatures. >> we have had a hard time in ohio convincing the legislature that this is the right way to go, and in addition to the security issue, which we feel most definitely will temperature us enhance vote security, we

also believe that it will save at least a dollar a registration in most of that savings it will accrue at local level where they will not have to key in the information, it can be electronically transferred and in a time where there are tight budgets for local officials, this is one way that we have been supporting on the voting security side and also on the cost savings side and hopefully will prevail on that discussion. >> tom, from louisiana, we have had that in place for several years and been very successful with it. and the only thing i would say to you and any other state, and i agree with mr. reid and others, that it was, i sold it on an economic basis. but make sure, at least we do, if you "retch sister online" that the first time you vote,

you have to do it in person. you cannot ask for a mail ballot. the reason we do, is we verify the signature that was put online and like mr. reid said, we always have to -- you don't have a problem with the photo i.d. issue and what have you. we'veno problems with it whatsoever. and not on the same subject but while i have the mike. i know a lot of you are having issues with pick can cher i.d. at the point of voting. the secret to our success from a challenger is that we do not turn you away if you do not have a picture i.d. we allow you to sign an affidavit at the point of voting. the commissioner verifies certain pertinent information. date of birth, mother's maiden name and the like to verify who you are. you sign an affidavit and we allow you to vote and we don't

turn you away. i think that may be the secret to getting around some of the court challenges that you have. >> thank you. i want to remind folks that nass.org, our association ebb site, la a tremendous amount of information and online tools and gadgets and widgets and all of that. so that's something to always use as background reference, but, also, the nass directory on the 2012 presidential caucuses and primary calendar, tomorrow is big, but it's just the beginning, in fact. so, please make use of that and if you are talking to reporters or media who have kind of a broader interests, be sure to reference them into the nass site and to that report. were you grabbing the mike there? >> thank you. i actually -- 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 and how do you end up verifying --

>> no, vote by mail, but the fact that they have to register before a driver's license officer and as i say the picture is taken and then we get the signature then we compare that signature, because we are vote by mail, with what that he sign on the affidavit on the envelope, and that is how he verify, plus, obviously allow voter registration challenges. >> and as i said at our last meeting, we are trying to make the system auditable at each step. so i think we'll probably go closer to louisiana's advice first. >> one suggestion on that front, how we're designing our program is that the only way you can register online is to have a photo -- a driver's license or a state i.d. where would you have had to provide your signature already, and then we can take from the bmv and we have them click a box