Shelden Unveils New Voter Registration Kiosk - 6/11/2002
Shelden Unveils New Voter Registration Kiosk - 6/11/ 2002
Champaign County Clerk Mark Shelden demonstrated an innovative voter registration kiosk at the Illini Union today. The computer station, created by the County Clerk’s office, allows Champaign County residents to register to vote or update their voter registration address. Users type in their voter registration information, receive a complete printed application and then sign and deposit the application in a box – all in one location. The voter then receives a voter identification card in the mail.
Shelden said, “We are not aware of any other election authority in the State or even the Country that is providing this service to voters.” Shelden continued, “I am very excited to be taking this step forward in our voter registration efforts in Champaign County. This kiosk makes registration readily accessible to anyone, streamlines the process, and insulates voter registration from politics.”
Shelden noted the following benefits to the process.
1) Applications are deposited in a box available only to the County Clerk’s office – preventing loss or delays in the transmittal of the forms to the Clerk’s office.
2) The application provides a receipt which can be referenced if the registrant has a question or problem with their registration.
3) The political parties are removed from the registration process helping registrants who wish to stay non-partisan.
4) The voter registration kiosk would be available for a greater number of hours - increasing convenience for voters.
5) Applications will be computer generated thereby eliminating problems with misspellings and illegible handwriting.
”This is the first of what will hopefully be a number of voter registration kiosks located throughout Champaign County,” said Shelden. Shelden said the production of more kiosks, including a handicapped-accessible model, would move forward as soon as the first kiosk has been operating long enough to make adjustments to any of the design features of the software or hardware.
