New technology designed to ensure that the political campaign Web pages you visit are what they claim to be is being implemented in at least two states.
Authenticated sites will bear a graphic depicting the relevant secretary of state's seal. Surfers who scroll over the graphic will bring up details of the site's certification.
Election officials in Kentucky and New Mexico are the first to sign on with the Election Security Seal Program, offered by ElectionMall Technologies, the company announced Tuesday. The firm hopes that the initial deals will spark interest among other states that want to track and identify legitimate fund-raising for political candidates, officials, or groups.
"We're certifying trust for the next generation of voters, one click at a time," said Ravi Singh, CEO and founder of ElectionMall, which has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
Tapping Online Activism
With the 2006 midterm congressional campaigns already gearing up, voters will be looking for information and giving money online in larger numbers than ever. In 2004, 75 million Americans used the Internet to get political news or to discuss political views, according to surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center.
But the increased use of the Internet for political fund-raising and message communication has spawned Web scams, too. In the past six years, the Web sites of Senators Hillary Clinton (D-New York) and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and of President George W. Bush have been copied by sites attempting to defraud visitors. More recently, many Web sites set up to collect relief money for hurricane victims are being investigated for fraudulent fund-raising.
The Election Security Seal Program creates an online registry into which candidates enter their information; the secretary of state then verifies the data. The software secures and authenticates digital certificates as an online "registering authority." It is the first site of its kind to provide technology of this kind for candidates' and political organizations' Web sites, according to Singh.
The program is available to official political candidates and to entities such as political action committees and organizations registered as 527 groups under election law. Fees range from $50 to $100. ElectionMall continues to sign up candidates and campaigns, though it does not name its clients.
Web Resources Vital
"Our number one goal is protect our citizens," said New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, of the state's decision to participate.
While Kentucky has not experienced widespread fraud issues, Secretary of State Trey Grayson is taking preemptive action.
"I'm confident, if we didn't take this step, there would [eventually] be problems," Grayson said. "We don't want to wait."
Harold Krent, dean of the law school at the Illinois Institute of Technology, called the security seal program a "great technological fix without involving the [Federal Election Commission] or regulation."
In the future, Singh hopes to offer search engines like Yahoo, Google, and AOL.com the ability to validate political Web sites. Currently, they have no such safeguard for people interested in searching for a political site.
"This is the first of many steps toward facilitating trust," said Singh. "Every day is a campaign."
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