Elections. Internet Voting, Voter Registration And Initiative Petitions.

ELECTIONS. INTERNET VOTING, VOTER REGISTRATION AND INITIATIVE PETITIONS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Requires Secretary of State to promulgate regulations by January 1, 2002, providing for a network system for the collection, storage, and processing of electronically generated and transmitted digital messages permitting electors, at their option, to sign any initiative petition, register to vote and vote in any election via the Internet. The system designated by the Secretary of State must be secure, provide reliable authentication of digital signatures, be accessible to the public over the Internet and be available for posting election returns for every election in California. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: This measure would result in one-time costs to the state in the range of tens of millions of dollars and ongoing annual costs ranging from millions to low tens of millions of dollars and ongoing net costs to local governments ranging from millions to tens of millions of dollars total annually statewide