More Online Voter Registration Language Options in California

Article May 22, 2014 Read time:

Projects: Election Initiatives

The California secretary of state’s office recently announced that the state’s online voter registration system is being expanded to include eight more languages: Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese. The system was already available in English and Spanish.

Even before the enhancements, California’s system has seen heavy use.

In 2012, online voter registration was available less than five weeks before the state’s October registration deadline, but in that time, more than 900,000 online transactions took place. In addition, the secretary of state’s office estimated that the state saved $2.34 per online transaction compared with paper transactions.

The design of the online system was also updated with a simple layout and improved accessibility features for people with disabilities.