that. if you want to check it out, you can see the look of our ads. we don't have the ad on our website yet, gotvoterid.com. yes, we took that website. the early results suggest it's working. we've got the law in place and we're encouraging -- we're pushing these ads out to the public. and encouraging people to participate. and we had a one local election whereas you probably know in your state most local elections, not involving any state or nationalish sthus tend to have very low participation rates in kansas. we're lucky if you can get above 120% you're doing well. above 25%. and in one of the local elections where we use this campaign 39% turnout, which again, for a local election is really quite good. so the early results suggest that it's going well. i encourage you to do something similar if you've got any changes in your state election laws that warrant public information campaign to get the world out to voter it is. one other point i would like is

we also have a cyber civics project. one idea we had to lure people into the website, people being both adults and kids who can benefit from the civics education, is to have a 20-question quiz. how much do you know about your constitutional rights and the history of kansas. we merged the two things together, the state history and education about the constitution. and i think it works pretty well. and thun once we sucked them in with a quiz they have access to the resources including a whole mini curriculum on kansas city which, again, i think many of your states are probably the same way, the the curriculum may be thin and in public schools and in resources for home-schoolers and the like, about your state's history so we try to fill that gap with a pretty robust cyber civics program on your website. i just wanted you to know what we're doing and encourage you to do the same. go to kansas secretary of state

website and will is a portal there for our cyber civics quiz and then the other is gotvoterid.com. thanks. >> thank you. >> thank you for all those great presentations. it's exciting just to see. i'm so glad at our conference we're having time to do this. some of you might have some exciting ideas. this might have inspired you. we have a little bit of time if there are some quick other reports from other states. not to put any of you on the spot. secretary reid? please. >> i mentioned earlier in the conference that secretary merrill and i are involved with or state public affairs network which is analogous to c-span that's filming us today. and needless to say, it's a tremendous vehicle for the public becoming better informed

about their government. and they're interested in coming and doing a presentation the us. actually it's their national association, public affairs networks and interested, i think, in part chnerships with secretaries of state around the country. just wanted to know if you were interested in doing it, i can arrange for either the voter participation committee or for the full conference. >> take that information in and make it as part of our discussion planning for our plans. >> i don't know whether it would be more realistic to wait until a better -- back with the winter conference in puerto rico or not. >> washington in the winter, puerto rico in the summer. yes? lieutenant governor. >> in alaska we will have to send out a voter card to every voter in the state with the redistricting that's happening. and so we're in the process of redesigning the voter card. and i would be interested in suggestions from other

secretaries on how that works in your state. we're going to try to tie it to a mobile app so it can show you where your precinct is, bring you to the updated ballot on -- for your precinct, and i hope i can find room for the alaska flag song on the back. we'll see. but at any rate, i would be interested in what other folks have done and if there's already some software kind of premade on that we're interested in that, too. >> i think all of us are just now sort of getting to that point. it seems like this is something that we could put out through our network and for even secretaries that aren't here, to be able to get more feedback. we have one particular? >> yes. louisiana started prior to october primary, we have on a smart phone where you can now pull up your individual information, how you're registered, brings you to your

precinct by gps map. that was very important because reapportionment and it pulls up your ballot for you to review from the comfort of your home so you can familiarize yourself with it. we're not certain if we're the first state that's done that but we have that now available. it's been very well received. i had a little bit of difficulty getting it out like i wanted because i was a candidate. i think the news media was a little hesitant to -- felt like maybe they were promoting me. but it's getting legs. and some of you are willing to share that with anyone. >> thank you. any others? please. >> doing the same thing except we have started with texting in mississippi. and we started out texting myself. initially on election day we received hundreds of texts from them directly to us, their

telephone number. we call them back immediately. i found texting to be very effective on election day for people who were out. >> for those who couldn't hear, the great success in mississippi using texting both before but almost on election day. i think a number of states are beginning to step into that technology. so thank you. others? oh, secretary. >> thank you. one of the -- we have a number of where do i vote, so people can find out where to vote on their primary and general election day. something i've wanted to do since taking office and we've been testing it on a number of communities, is for the smaller elections. your city elections, your school elections, and getting that sample ballot, using the same system so that people are becoming more familiar, that i just need to go to the secretary of state's site. it's going to tell me where i need to vote for any election. whether it's the big ones or small ones.

that's been very successful in the communities we've tested so far. >> thank you. others? i want to share one idea that we're just talking about in minnesota, but i think it's perhaps just a refreshment for something they know almost all of you do. in minnesota we found that our vote in honor of veteran program really does touch some people who maybe have become discouraged or cynical or not connected to the voting system and that whole program had brought them into a new participation. and keeping in mind this is the centennial year of the civil war what's in our civil war task force we're beginning to talk about a vote in honor of a siv war veteran as a little bit of a slight change and perhaps a new angle on that, not every state has perhaps this same

possibilities, same capacity, but it's something you might consider if you will be revving up your own vote in honor of veteran program this year. you might consider that as another angle for a program like that. any other final comments for the good of the whole body? please. secretary? >> there are many of us changing to different voting machines in the new round probably coming. one of the things we did in michigan that seemed to be successful is we pair with our local clerks who actually conduct elections and we took the gently used machines that were used to vote for presidents, congress people, their very own secretary of state, and we coded and got ballots from the printer for free or very little and we held elections with the teachers that we trained on their time -- on their time that they came in for training. and we got to have elections and many, many of the schools in oakland county, in michigan.

and it took all the mystery out of it. i thought it was for high school kids but it turned out as young as first grade were using them. i went to as many as i could. the kids were so excited to be able to vote. acho aactually put their fists up in the air like they won a big sporting event. i would encourage you to pair up with the teachers so that the kids are provided an opportunity, whether they're vote for what kind of ice cream they like or the homecoming queen or their student council, i think it's a very important lessons in civics that these machines are really, really easy to use and it's a lot of fun to see them go electronically usually from 152 to 153 and it was you as a child. >> great suggestion. secretary? ross miller from nevada. nevada has an early vote state. we make very extensive use of our early voting system.

well over half of the voters will have cast ballots in nevada prior to election day and when we simpliment early voting we put it in unusual locations. it goes in shopping malls and library, even supermarkets which seems unusual to some. we may be the only jurisdiction in the country where you're likely to hear a call for a wet mop at voting bootd number six but it works for us. one of the components that we use there that i think has been proven effective is that we purchase with hava funds voting trailers. there are trailers that are fully ada compliant that we can drag around anywhere in the county or the state that are fully equipped with voting machines. we can bring them to the campuses. they rotate throughout the voting period and are at different locations just about every day. those trailers are also available in the event of an emergency on election day to be pulled out and substituted as a polling location. we've had those in place the

last couple of cycles and it's proven very effective. >> great idea. >> secretary read? >> in 2008 our web master said, we ought to have an app for election ruls. i said, why? you know. and he did it very quickly. and i thought, well, who would even know we're doing this? why? and that night as i went through the various, you know, functions, election night functions up in the seattle, bellevue area, people kept grabbing me, this app is terrific, sitting there, you know, like this. and so i suggest to you that this is a great way to get out word about the election results. >> thank you. >> we do have one more item for general discussion. and it's the plans that we might put into motion around nass or

individually around nass voter renlg station month. the idea that's come for ard about a national vote e er registration day. we wanted to find out if any states had been thinking about this yet concretely within your own state and also people's opinions about whether this should be part of what we do as nass in terms of working together in support of national voter registration month and a specific day. let's see, is there any update that would be important for us to hear before we entered into a general conversation? >> we have a resolution that says september is voter registration month. we originally had a day, the day kept changing. other things kept coming into conflict. so we went with the month. and it does -- it's not just election year, it's every year, september is voter registration month. but if you're looking for a day for 2012, i don't see how that would be a bad thing.

>> are any states glued in, making plans? is this on your radar screens yet? please. >> california. this may not apply to everybody, but we do -- we do drive-thru voter registration. so if you've got an old bank that has drive-thru lanes or that's not using them or a restaurant, and we basically just sent people out with clipboards. the last time we did it we had bicycles, wheelchairs, skateboards, pedestrians, every kind of device or human power comes through, and you could see our people out, you know, sticking their head in the driver's window -- side window with a clipboard.

and it always gets really great tv coverage because the visual is good and we have a statue of liberty costume, somebody from elections always dresses up in that. the last guy that dressed up as the statue of liberty with the big bushy beard was the best statue of liberty ever. it's california, i don't know. but it's one that i think more than any other voter registration thing we've done draws a lot of television media, which is often very difficult to get, you know, it highlights that the deadline is coming up and we had a gentleman who came through it about ten to 12:00 on the last day. and he took his feet out the window and he said, i'm in my house slippers. i have never registered to vote before. i'm 59 years old, but i'm going to do it this time. and that's the kind of story that you, you know, that we all go to our graves with. so if you do it, send me some

pictures because it would be really fun to see the different regional. of course, if you do it in some states you're going to need to be in a snowmobile suit. >> thank you. anyone planning for special events for national voter registration month or national voter registration day? not yet. oh, please. >> so on the non-profit side, the number of youth organizations and other civic organizations have been talking about the same idea, so maybe there's an opportunity to collaborate. we, again, we're in the same situation as you were saying where we pick the month of september. but then we need one day to organize around as a community so we picked september 25th. and all at rock the vote i'm more of what they call the stakes, so i manage all of our operations and make sure that they're working very effectively and efficiently. we still bring what my staff

call our sizzle, which are the artists and celebrities that can make a day like that actually become more promoted and more well-known. so if there is a day that you all pick, do let me know and maybe we can collaborate or september 25th works for some of you, we're asking every one of our 150 musicians and artists on tour to take that day and talk about it and to actually join us on the streets to register voters. we're asking all of your corporate partners to turn over whether it's the facebook home page or google home page on that one day and promote voter registration. it's still in the idea form, but it might be something we could work together on. >> september 25th, pretty set, looks like that will be the day. any reactions or questions or thoughts about how we as nass might participate, might partner with this? it seems like we're now

beginning to get into the thought process of what do we do with all of our redistricting, what's going to happen as we begin to roll out programs. today's agenda has been pretty far reaching about a lot of different exciting ideas from ipads all of the way out. so i feel like we've gathered a lot of information. we've sparked a lot of ideas. we have conversations that we will continue within the committee thinking about the summer but also looking into the fall, voter participation will rise in the media's interests over the course of the year. secretary schultz and i will be getting out to you with the information from this event, with the links and stuff, working with staff. but we also want to pull together a phone call very soon to begin looking into the future and making use of your expertise as we keep nass' real leadership

permission on voter registration participation on the cutting edge. any last-minute, comments, questions, suggestions, before we adjourn? secretary merrill? please come to this microphone. there, that one. >> just a thought on a question i have out there along these lines. i don't know how many states are considering online voter registration. i'm introducing it this year in connecticut. but if, you know, somehow to get a survey of where people are on this, if there are others considering it because it seems to me that's a great tool for the coming fall in terms of voter participation. so maybe if this could -- committee could look into it and see where other people are on this. i know that rock the vote people are using the online registration. i mean, that's something you would see as a tool for registering young people. i don't know if anyone else is working on this issue. >> i think there's a whole lot of activity on the issue.

i think there's at least one major report about where it is. but i also think there have been some very recent developments and also some states, i know in nevada we were talking about what had been their preliminary results as they've stepped on this process. i think secretary reid had some new information. so one of the things we'll do as a take-away from this is people would like to hear from is online voter registration, are there any new stories, new studies, you know, just new data. and if you are moving something or something is moving in your state legislature, let us know and if there's a way that the sharing of information can go a little more quickly, the states who have adopted this have had excellent results. and when those results are actually put in front of legislators and also the cost benefit, it's pretty clear that this is going to be an important part of the future and the more we can use real data for

actually having conversations the better we'll be. and we've got, i think, some excellent think some excellent data. anyone who is moving on this agenda in your state right now or any of you early adopters want to say anything before we close? >> sorry, don't mean to talk so much. bus i do have advice, because i tried would different sessions, and secretary brown down in oregonly with me. and i found what is important with the legislators is to point out that compared to registration by mail is a more secure process because we require them to have a driver's license. so these people to do this, have to have gone before a state official and have their picture taken, sign it and then we connect into that database and

they are surprised, they assume that because it's online, we will not know who these people are, is there somebody really there. and that is a real key point in selling this before the state legislature. >> we have had a hard time in ohio convincing that it the right way to go. in addition to the security issue which we feel most definitely will help us enhance vote security, we also believe that it will save at least a dollar a registration in most of that savings, it will a ccru at the local level where they will not have to key in the information. it can be electronically transferred and in a time where there's tight budgets or local officials this is a way that we

have been supporting on the voting security side and also on the cost/savings side and we hope that we will prevail eventually in that discussion. >> tom, from louisiana, we have had that in place for several years and been he vevery succes with it. and the only thing i would say to you and others, that it was sold on an economic basis. but make sure, at least we do, if you register online, that the first tyime you vote you have t do it in person, you cannot ask for a mail ballot. the reason we do, is we verify the signature that was put online and we always have to have, you don't have a problem with a photo id issue and what have you. we have had no problems with it whatsoever. and not on the same subject but while i have the mike. i know a lot of you are having

issues with the picture id at the point of voting. the secret to our success from a challenger is that we do not turn you away if you do not have a picture id. we allow you to sign an affidavit at the point of voting. the commissioner verifies certainly information, date or birth, and the like to verify who you are. you sign an affidavit and we allow you to vote and we don't turn you away, i think that is maybe the secret to getting around some of the court challenges that you have. >> thank you. i want to remind folks that nass.org, our association website has a tremendous amount of information and online tools and gadgets and widgets and all of that, that is something to use as a background reference. but also the nass directory on the 2012 presidential calendar,

tomorrow is big but it's just the beginning, in fact. so, please make use of that and if you are talking to reporters or media who have kind of a broader interest be sure to reference them into the nass site. were you grabbing the mike therther there? >> on the point of the secretary from louisiana's point, do you require them to vote in person the first time after registering online? >> no, vote by mail, but the fact that they have to register before a driver's license officer and as i say the picture is taken and then we get the signature then we compare that signature because we are vote by mail with what they sign in the affidavit on the envelope and that is how we verify, plus, obviously allow voter

registration challengers. >> and as i said at our last meeting, we are trying to make the system auditable at each step, so we will probably go close tore louisiana's advice first. >> one suggestion on that front, how we are designing our program is that the only way you can register online is to have a driver's license or a state id where you would have had to provide your signature already and then we can take from the bmv and we have them click a box at the bottom of the page that authorizes us to use the signature on file as their voter registration signature so we can avoid that step and have a signature on file for all of those new registerants immediately. >> a number of our vendors here have been active in a lot of the states early on.

so, i highly encourage you to talk to our vendors as well. this is a big project in process, and you know, there's a lot of exciting ideas just about how working more closely with our dmvs and motor vehicles, we could be bringing those photos, however we to it into the polling place, so we don't have to fool around with a lot of the different things that we are engaged in now. but we also know that the technology is going to transform itself over and over and over, so our ability to be flexible and innovative will be important but sharing information among all of our offices, our states is going to be really crucial so we can keep ourselves on the forefront. we to not want to be driven, we want to be leaders and we have to be active to help each other stay in that leadership role as we go through the year. we want to make sure that you a

kinds of voters are participating, but we also want to do that in a way that makes sure that we are able to handle our jobs and do them well with less money, with more people, with just more pressure. so, the more we share our best practices and great ideas just the better we will do at our job. any last words, secretary? thank you so much everybody. and we are quitting a couple minute s early, so make good us of that time, thanks a lot. [ applause ] taking a break here at the mayflower hotel. coming up we will hear from u.s. representative todd roheta of

indiana, he will lead a congressional dialog. and some of our coverage today on the road to the white house on our network, cspan and later tonight more live coverage from the road to the white house as republican presidential candidate, mitt romney will talk to people at a requirement community in central florida and we will have that again tonight at 6:10 p.m. we will come back to the secretaries' of state discussion, while they are at a break, we will look back at a conversation they had about i-civics and increasing citizen participation. >> thank you secretary ritchie and what a great opportunity it is to address the group and talk

to you about the things we are doing around the nation on education. what we do is provide young people with the knowledge, skills for intelligent citizenship, it's so important as we talk about voter engagement about how do we prepare young people, tomorrow's voters to be not just capable of voting, but being able to do so intelligently and in an engaged way where they are participating in american democracy and really working together for, to advance our nation and our individual states and communities. i don't think it would be a surprise to folks in this room that there are a lot of folks participating in the political system that are not entirely well educated about how our system of government