Voting Systems Assessment Project

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

The Voting Systems Assessment Project (VSAP) is an unprecedented initiative launched by the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters as a part of the County’s goal to modernize its voting systems. The initiative seeks to establish a collaborative model between citizens and government in order to determine the current and future needs to be addressed through the modernization of the County’s voting system. The VSAP model establishes a new participatory approach that initiates the process of voting systems development and procurement with public input to ensure the “people” element is well balanced with those of “technology” and “regulations.” Working in partnership with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the project is coordinating a series of convenings and focus groups to gather public input, from individual voters and citizen activists, to community organizations. The input provided during the initial discussions served to establish the fundamental principles that will drive the County’s voting system requirements and development/procurement strategies.