You can do many things with Apple’s iPad. You can go online, compose e-mail, download hundreds of applications, listen to music, and watch movies and now: Vote! Indeed, some residents of Oregon, may vote with the Apple iPad. The people of the State of Oregon may find that a box on a black piece of paper with a little pencil is no longer in fashion. Instead the state is introducing  another method, much cooler, such as voting with their finger on a touchscreen interface.

Residents of some parts of Oregon will vote via iPad in a special vote to be held today. The process, which aims to make the voting easier for disabled people, is part of a pilot program to be held in five regions in the state.

During the vote, electoral agents will go on the ground with iPads and portable printers. The voter will not actually their own, but will be using software developed by the Oregon State Electoral Commission, after the vote is collected it will be printed in a form that will be mailed to electoral office. The Oregon officials have spent $72,000 on the software that runs on the iPads.

“We’re really at the edge,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “We want to make voting as convenient as possible.”

Apple has provided five iPads to Oregon to test out the program. The app will offer huge amount of flexibility. For people with less vision, the app will read the ballot aloud, adjust the text colors and size, and tablet can be controlled using sip-and-puff wands for those who don’t have full use of their hands.

For now, this initiative is still in the pilot phase. If all goes well, it could soon be implemented across the state. Oregon will need at least 72 iPad if the program needs to be expanded to statewide. The program might also expand to other US states depending upon the success rate of the pilot program.

Government getting into supplying apps to allow voting remotely from devices like the iPad is rather a big deal — even if just for tablets in general, as it is another step towards giving accessibility to people unable to reach polling places. It also adds a lot of odd social implications to verifying votes, protecting privacy, and also opening up government operations to more people.