State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) this week declared his candidacy to run for the Secretary of State’s Office in 2014 with the goal of someday allowing Californians to vote online.
"In this election cycle, we significantly increased access to our democracy through online voter registration,” said Yee in a press announcement. “As Secretary of State, I want to expand on this success and explore the possibility of one day not just registering online, but in fact voting online. If we can safely pay our bills via the internet and board an airplane with a smart phone, we should be able to securely and easily vote electronically as well."
Yee authored SB 397 signed by Governor Brown in 2011 to allow Californians to register to vote online. More than $1 million people used the Internet-based registration system prior to the November election, according to Yee’s announcement.
Earning the distinction of “Senator Sunshine” by transparency organization Californians Aware, Yee is known for pursuing public disclosure laws, including SB 1696 signed in 2008 to ensure greater access to public contracts under the California Public Records Act.
