Contact: Russ White, University Relations, (517) 355-2281, whiterus@msu.edu

1/16/2004

EAST LANSING, Mich. – One of the largest experiments in online voting to date is now underway in Michigan, where the state Democratic Party is allowing registered Democrats to cast votes online for its presidential caucus.

The caucus will be held in nearly 450 sites on Feb. 7. Instead of attending in person, Democrats can request a mail-in ballot or they can log on to the party's Web site and request an online ballot. More than 100,000 voters could choose the Internet option, greatly expanding participation in the lightly attended caucuses.

“Certainly, the online option should expand participation, and it is likely to do it asymmetrically – that is, not everyone in the party is equally facile with computers, and those who are facile are more likely to take this option,” says David Rohde, university distinguished professor of political science at Michigan State University. “So if a particular candidate's supporters are disproportionately in this group – as may be true for Howard Dean, for example – they may be able to gain some marginal advantage.

“In addition, a campaign that is well enough organized to be able to encourage its potential supporters to sign up for this option, or for mail-in ballots, could also gain at the margin.”

Online voting is a way to reconnect the Democratic Party with young voters, where they seemed to have lost some traction in recent years, says Charles Steinfield, professor of telecommunication, information studies and media at MSU.

“It can make it easier for those who find it difficult to travel to a public polling place to vote, and therefore increases representation from such groups as those with physical disabilities, or those who lack transportation,” Steinfield says.

“Online voting reduces the effort to vote, and should increase overall participation rates.”

Still, there's potential for disruption from hackers and other sorts of mischief.

“There was a huge furor over the claims that electronic voting machines used in many states had security flaws that could permit hackers to vote many times or change votes,” says Steinfield. “The online voting system is different – not an electronic voting machine per se – but I could imagine similar concerns could be raised. That is, hackers might find a way to submit multiple ballots or alter votes on submitted ballots.”

In addition, the “digital divide” raises fears of disenfranchisement among some minority voters.

Since Internet access is not equally distributed and used across the population, there is the potential for online voting to skew voter participation rates toward those with more resources and who are younger, more educated and computer literate.

But because there are multiple ways to vote – in person or at a caucus site, by mail or online – this concern is minimized, says Richard Wiggins, a senior information technologist at the MSU Computer Center.

“In fact, it's been interesting to watch the campaigns that objected on digital divide concerns rapidly mobilize teams of campaign workers armed with laptops to take the technology to the voters,” he says.

“I still believe a paper trail is vital for public faith in elections (primary or general) conducted by the state, and I personally favor optical scan systems for reliability and paper trail reasons.”

It may take years for citizens to feel more comfortable voting online, as it did for bank customers to embrace online banking.

“Whether e-voting will eventually benefit the democratic process and contribute to a more inclusive civic life will depend considerably on the legal and policy framework for advanced information and communication technology,” says Johannes Bauer, MSU professor of telecommunication, information studies and media.“Online political participation is contingent on citizens’ access to the Internet, their skills in using the technology and their trust in the technology.

“None of these factors can be taken for granted and each question needs to be addressed before online voting can be utilized in a more ubiquitous fashion. One risk is that we move to online voting prematurely, thus excluding citizens from participation in civic life. A holistic view of information technology is needed to harness its benefits for political life.”