Online Voting as a Means of Increasing Political Participation

Beginning from the vastly generous assumption that voting and in turn the political process can make lasting positive changes in society, the first logical step is to ensure that the voting process is as advanced and ubiquitous as possible. In an effort to elevate political knowledge and participation among ordinary American citizens, the United States government could utilize a system already put into place that reached more than 146.4 million people per month by the end of 2002 - the Internet. As our technological capacities expand, the American government must keep pace and charge ahead to capture the interest of a larger, more youthful audience through the employment of electronic political polls, registration, and actual voting. Seventy-four percent of Americans under the age of thirty, sixty-two percent between the ages of thirty and forty-nine, and thirty three percent of the fifty plus population sign online, providing a remarkable, untapped source of political momentum comparable to the 105 million, fifty-one percent of eligible voters that took part in the 2000 presidential election.

By instituting a series of mandatory electronic polls for anyone accessing the Internet in the United States during the approaching months of a national general election, participants will become better educated about the political issues at hand, as well as feel that their voices are being heard. In addition, these measures will allow candidates to get a stronger grasp as to what a larger percent of Americans are looking for in an elected leader. On the first day of each month six months prior to poll day, a required poll designed and written by the US government will appear on the home screen of every computer across the nation upon connecting to the Internet. Much like the pesky popups we encounter today, these polls will stall the usage of a computer until all of the answers have been completed and submitted in a very simply format. In a similar fashion to the polls presented currently by American Online, the US government would provide a link to a series of standardized message boards compatible with all forms of software at the end of the poll for further discussion and interaction among the constituents in civic engagement. Despite the fact that only citizens are capable of voting during an actual election, anyone accessing a computer from the United States may take part in these polls, as deterrence against immigrants would be overly costly and ineffective.

By mandating polls concerning healthcare policies, education spending, and economic regulation to be addressed in a campaign, political efficacy can be increased. Dissolution of much political strife and protests could potentially result from such actions, as each campaigning party would review the finding of these national surveys and the outcomes posted on the nightly news, in local newspapers, and on the home sites of all Internet Service Providers. The widespread distrust and apathy for governmental affairs in today's citizens stems from feelings of powerlessness in provoking change and being heard, but Internet polling measures would force more accountability onto the Federal government, as was originally intended by the framers of the Constitution in their quest to promote liberty. Many people who call themselves liberals or conservatives agree with only part of their associated political ideologies. Studies in political opinions also suggest that most people do not hold a specific or clearly defined belief in every political issue, so therefore, these individuals become easily influenced by others. Instead, it would be preferable for all U.S. citizens to possess enough knowledge about each issue, as can potentially be provided by these Internet polls, so that they can evaluate and determine their stance on every relevant issue as consistent with their political beliefs. Currently political knowledge is not evenly distributed throughout the nation's population; those individuals with more education, higher income, and elevated career status, and who are active members of political or social organizations tend to be more informed in matters of politics. This inequality in political participation and knowledge can be adapted when everyone with access to a computer will be required to participate in short term monthly polls. The procedure of public internet polling would give a larger polling sample, but could yield to larger margin of error due to the multiple polling that could occur by one person with several computers and individuals without access or ownership of a computer. In the future, however, I predict that a larger percent of the population will use computers due to the nature of our current society, and thus decreasing this sampling error.

Another method designed to increase U.S. political participation among every day citizens is the institution of online registration in a similar movement that is spreading across the world. In the United States, a citizen would sign onto his or her computer, go to a designated website, and register for the next election by filling out a simple form with information such as name, address, social security number, and of course, political affiliation following the example already set by the principles of the National Voter Registration Act. For those citizens who have not gone through this process, a reminder would pop up onscreen every time he or she connected to the Internet, accompanied by instructions on how to register. In early July 2003 the Youth Council of Malaysia called upon an online registration system by the Election Commission as a more convenient alternative because "many of the younger generation are internet savvy, and spend a large amount of time surfing the web, this system would bring voting registration closer to them." (New Straits Times - Management Times). The reduction of red tape in registration as a means to increase voter turnout has also been documented in a study of North Dakota and Minnesota's policies. In North Dakota where registration is not required, and in Minnesota where registration up until the date of election is permitted, a huge growth in not only overall voter turnout occurred, but those younger individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds participated in larger percentages. Despite the reality that a formal system of registration is necessary to prevent different parties from reeking havoc upon each other during primary elections, registration can become similar in process via the Internet.

For most Americans, however, voting remains the most accessible and significant mode of political participation, and for this reason, it is imperative that Internet voting be implemented. In today's government individual states may establish brief residency requirements, often fifteen days, but as a whole, the national government exercises great power over general elections following the introduction of the Civil Rights Amendments, and therefore, could easily execute a national Internet vote. On Election Day an immovable screen would pop up on every Internet connection across the nation instructing individuals to type in their name, social security number, and security code, which would be received by postal mail in the prior week following registration, to verify the identity and party membership of each citizen. The potential drawbacks and risks, would hopefully be eliminated by these security measures, although public sentiment can not be wholly changed. If feeling as though they are forced to vote and respond to polls, citizens may not take politics seriously. As long as hackers are completely deterred via specified security steps and the American people continued to place a great deal of importance and gravity upon their electoral rights, the execution of Internet voting could bring about a significant increase in turnout nationwide.

Such voting measures are already being instituted at home and in various countries around the world, serving as evidence of the successes and failures of such a volatile system. One public political group, MoveOn.org began to implement this technology in late June 2003 by conducting history's first online primary, urging Democrats to vote during a forty-eight hour period. Although with more than 317,000 voters involved, no candidate received the required fifty percent for full endorsement by the organization, however the media attention brought in significant fundraising. The national government has already tried out with this technology when the Secure Electronic Registration Voting Experiment began a small demonstration project in the 2000 general election involving just eighty-four voters. In addition, a current Pentagon program will allow some military personnel and American civilians living abroad to cast an absentee ballot online in next year's presidential primaries and general elections. "Internet voting takes just seconds instead of weeks if you were to put that ballot in the mail and send it off," states Polli Brunell, the director of the Pentagon's Federal Voting Assistant Program (Sherman, Jill). If this upcoming experiment proves to be successful, the twenty two million dollar program could be expanded to reach more than six million voters in the armed services. Similar to the technology needed for my proposed national Internet voting system, the Defense Department's online voting utilizes intrusion detection systems, redundant firewalls, and encryption technology that will scramble messages containing the ballots to provide adequate security. In other countries the Australian Electoral Commission wants to test online voting at the next national government election, set to take place in 2004 and 2005, the Swiss government launched a twenty million dollar initiative to develop electronic voting systems, and the canton of Geneva will introduce Internet voting on a trial basis, as well as Italy, Spain, and the Philippines in the upcoming year. Great Britain could have its first general election using e-voting by the end of this decade, however, the kingdom's Electoral Commission reported that during thirty trials, voting by Internet virtually had no impact on turnout. Across Europe in its entirety, those states who have tested Internet voting, an overall increase in turnout by twenty percent, largely by the young, elderly, and disabled by approximately twenty percent has occurred. On a smaller scale the implementation of online voting has increased political participation in student government elections in many colleges also, including Carnegie Mellon University, Emory University, and Clemson University.

If these proposed changes were implemented now, or even in the near future, I anticipate a large upsurge in American political participation despite the small number of weaknesses that could pose a problem. Since so many citizens still do not have personal computers at home or work, and many would not be willing to travel to the library or other public venues with Internet access, a large number of constituents will not get a say in an election's outcome. The technology and security measures will be extremely costly, but could, however, replace the governmental funding for today's voting machines, but this expense may be well worth it. The excuses of college students as to why they did not participate in the 2000 election with seventeen percent not voting due to lack of information on the issues, twenty two percent not having the time to vote, and thirty two percent not registered where they were living could be eliminated altogether with the introduction of Internet polling, registration, and voting. By bringing the electorate to the World Wide Web, a large increase in voter turnout and knowledge could bring back the founder's vision of a genuine democracy, assuming such a concept is a sound one in the first place.

Works Cited

Carlson, Scott. "Online voting increases participation in student elections, colleges find." The Chronicle of Higher Education. i33 ed. Vol. v49. 25 Ap. 2003. 33 (1).

Edwards, Bob. "Analysis: Liberal Web site MoveOn.org sponsors online Democratic presidential primary." Morning Edition (NPR) 25 Jun. 2003. 16 Jul. 2003.

Ferenc, Leslie. Toronto Star 14 Jul. 2003. 16 Jul. 2003.

Michell, Selina. "It's polling day, so click away." The Australian 15 Oct. 2002. 16 Jul 2003 .

N.A. "MYC wants EC to provide online registration for voters." New Straits Times - Management Times 3 Jul. 2003. Malaysia Newspaper Source. 16 Jul. 2003.

Sherman, Jill. "E-voting in elections by 2010." The Times 2 Aug. 2002. 16 Jul. 2003.

Technology Review. Ed. Diop, Julie Claire. i9 ed. Vol. v105. Nov. 2002. 26 (2).