CHEYENNE n Two groups are asking the legislative management council to consider an interim study of electronic voting system to record votes by the Legislature.

The council, which includes legislative leaders who are the administrative arm of the Legislature, meets Monday on adjournment to assign interim studies to committees and set their priorities.

The League of Women Voters and the Equality State Policy Center said the study will gather information about the software used by legislators to cast their votes and to make the record available on the Legislative Service Office web site as part of the legislative digest.

The study also will determine the best physical means of displaying the questions being voted on "for the benefit of both members and the public," said the League's letter to the council.

The study should "demystify" the electronic voting process for the legislators, said Marguerite Herman, spokeswoman for the League of Women Voters.

Some legislators have expressed concern over whether the system would allow them to change their votes and whether they would know how others voted before they make their final decision, both questions to be answered by the study.

The system could use a display board or the information could be relayed directly to the laptops legislators use on the floors of each house, said Dan Neal, executive director of the Equality State Policy Center in a letter to legislative leaders.

Many legislators have expressed concern about maintaining the architectural aesthetics of the House and Senate.

Regional legislators familiar with electronic voting say architectural changes have been minor and the display boards have not been intrusive.

A LSO report in June 2006 said an electronic voting system could increase the efficiency of of recording a roll call vote and could greatly improve both legislator and citizen access to current bill and amendment information.

A total of 42 states have fully incorporated an electronic vote recording system in one or both of their chambers, Neal said.