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E-Voting Steps Closer

Web service simplifies registering to vote and getting an absentee ballot.

By Katherine Hunt, PCWorld   

For many people, registering to vote is associated with a trip to the post office or library. But sites like Election.com bring voter registration within a few clicks.

"We've got a nineteenth-century system and a twenty-first-century population. This [technology] provides a bridge," says Trevor Potter, former chair of the Federal Election Commission.

Election.com, like the Web sites Grassroots.com and Voter.com, provides online election services for governments, trade associations, school districts, corporations, and other groups, as well as offering voter registration.

In March, Election.com conducted the first binding online U.S. election in the Arizona Democratic primary.

Partners Promote Voting

Election.com's services appear on other Web sites as well, to reach the most people and persuade them to register, says Mark Strama, Election.com vice president.

"You don't get people to come to politics, you take politics to where the people are--like concerts, clubs, and coffeehouses," says Strama, who previously worked for the youth outreach effort Rock the Vote.

Election.com is now featured on the Web sites of the Republican National Committee, Ivillage.com, Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen.com, and two military sites, MilitaryMoves.com and MilitaryHub.com.

Recently, the site added absentee balloting services online that comply with FEC regulations. Americans overseas, especially in the military, and college students are expected to benefit from the service, which makes it easy to request an absentee ballot. Some 8.4 million people voted absentee in the 1996 presidential election, according to the FEC.

Removing Barriers

That function "reaches a lot of college students who are registered to vote at their parents' address, but would still like to vote. Many of them are mystified by the absentee ballot process," says Alison Byrne Fields, creative director and chief strategist at Rock the Vote. More than 30,000 young people have registered since Election.com was added to that site in January, she says.

Rock the Vote offers a forum for issues relevant to young people, such as higher education funding, police brutality, and neighborhood safety. Discussing these topics encourages activism and demonstrates the importance of voting, she says.

The Internet can boost voter turnout, Potter notes. "If there's any real barrier at all [to voting], people tend to be turned off," he says. "One way or another, in the future, it will be easier to vote."

Critics of online voter registration say it increases the digital divide between those with access to the technology and those without. Strama acknowledges the concern, but says the effort effectively reaches the young and tech workers--groups known for their lack of participation in the political process.

Embracing online voter registration is about overcoming a mindset, Potter says. "The old town hall does not exist anymore. The way we live has changed," he adds.