By Mr. Verga of Gloucester, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 707) of Anthony J. Verga and Jennifer L. Flanagan for the establishment of a task force (including members of the General Court) to investigate the methods of conducting state elections via the Internet.  Election Laws.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

Anthony J. Verga

Jennifer L. Flanagan

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act to establish an online voting task force.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there is hereby established an Online Voting Task Force (“Task Force”). Said Task Force shall be established to conduct research, studies, and interviews to investigate various methods of conducting state elections via the Internet.  The members of the Task Force shall be as follows: The Secretary of the Commonwealth or his or her designee; The Director of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance or his or her designee; the Senate and the House Chairs of the Joint Committee on Election Laws; a representative of the state committee from each political party officially recognized by the Commonwealth; two representatives from the Massachusetts City and Town Clerks Association, one city clerk and one town clerk; one Senator appointed by the Senate President; one Representative appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and five citizens appointed by the Governor, provided at least two of which must have experience with elections law, and provided further that one member have knowledge of Internet privacy and security issues. Each member of the Task Force must be eligible and registered to vote in Massachusetts state elections. Within one hundred twenty (120) days of the enactment of this bill the Task Force shall be assembled.

SECTION 2. The appointed members of the Task Force shall be responsible for conducting such reasonable research as is necessary to prepare proposals and findings on the merits and demerits of various methods of conducting state elections via the Internet. Such research may include but is not limited to the following: an evaluation of the technological options available to the Commonwealth; an examination of the potential negative consequences of instituting such a system, such as, privacy, fraud, verification, and identity issues; a study of the costs, both monetary and social, that each system might entail, including a rigorous cost benefit-analysis of each option; and an estimated timeline for the institution of such a system.
The Task Force shall meet regularly and shall hold no fewer than twelve (12) meetings during its tenure. No earlier than twenty (20) and no later than twenty-four (24) months after the initial formation, the Task Force must produce their final proposals and findings, which must be distributed to the Governor, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and The Joint Committee on Election Laws.

SECTION 3. Subject to appropriation, a sum of two hundred thousand dollars shall be expended for the purposes of this Act.