Thousands of Arizona Democrats vote online

By Jolyn Okimoto, Associated Press, 03/10/00

PHOENIX -- Tens of thousands of Arizona Democrats voted this week by pointing and clicking in the nation's first binding Internet election for public office.

By midday Friday, more than 30,000 had cast their ballots via the Internet in Arizona's Democratic presidential primary, said Bill Taylor, vice president of Election.com, the company hired to run the election.

Voters were issued personal identified numbers and then could log on at any computer or Democratic Party headquarters to cast their ballot.

"It was a lot easier for me than going to a polling site because I have computer access at all times," said Jonnie Ann Del Rio, 22, of Phoenix, who voted at the Roosevelt Community Tech Center where she works.

Democrats who did not vote by Friday night would have to do so at one of 124 polling sites either via computer or traditional paper ballots. The primary is officially Saturday, the last day of balloting.

Maria Rhose, a representative of Election.com, said a stream of people had come through the Democratic Party's headquarters, the site of an Internet early voting station. Many voters said they would keep their confirmation certificates as mementos.

"It seems like that's something that makes them very proud," Rhose said.

At its peak Tuesday -- the first day of Internet voting -- three votes were coming in per second. The 13,000 votes that day surpassed the total number of Democratic primary ballots cast the old-fashioned way in 1996.

The frequency of Internet votes decreased slightly after former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley abandoned his presidential bid Thursday, said Cortland Coleman, interim executive director for the state Democratic Party.

Some voters encountered technical problems. Some people didn't receive PINs or their numbers didn't work because of incomplete information in their voter registration, Taylor said.