L.A. County Pilot Program Imagines the Future of Voting

Los Angeles County officials are in the midst of reimagining how the county's electorate will vote.

After several years' work on a new voting system and a recent presentation at Southwest by Southwest Eco, officials will soon lock down design details with the aim of rolling the system out fully in 2020. A pilot program is scheduled for 2018.

Under the new system as it's currently envisioned, voters would be able to mark their choices using touch-screen devices, submit ballot selections via smartphones and vote on one of several days at various locations.

Voters would also have options like customizing their ballot's font size and choosing a ballot from several languages. The new voting system will still create a ballot paper trail as required by state law.

The project began as an idea back in 2009 and has cost $8.9 million so far, a price tag expected to rise to $13 million in the coming months.

KPCC recently tried out a prototype of the new system at the L.A. County registrar offices in Norwalk, and got a step-by-step guide of how it works.

Read more and see a slideshow of the step-by-step voting process via KPCC