(SGER) Small Grants for Exploratory Research: Internet Voting and the 2000 Election

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ

Investigators

Abstract

On-line, Internet voting is the next step in election reform and will be available for the 2000 election. While citizen involvement in U.S. elections continues to decline at an alarming rate and previous reform efforts (motor voter, early voting, and mail balloting) have yet to produce higher levels of participation, Arizona is moving forward with an experiment in digital democracy. The Arizona Democratic Party is including an Internet voting option in the Marc 2000 primary election. This is the first binding Internet election to occur anywhere in the world. The Principal Investigator for this Small Grant for Exploratory research undertakes an extensive research effort to examine the significance and impact of Internet voting for political participation and election outcomes in the 2000 primary in Arizona. Five questions are central to this research: 1) which population subgroups are most interested in Internet voting? 2) which population subgroups actually vote using Internet voting procedures? 3) is there a relationship between Internet voting and voter turnout? 4) how does Internet voting affect election outcomes? 5) Is there evidence of fraud in Internet voting? The researcher's pilot study of registered voters in Arizona conducted in October, 1999, suggests that Internet voting holds great promise for voter turnout. This current project specifically addresses the relationship between the Internet as information technology and its influence upon the quality and level of participation in the 2000 election. This primary election in Arizona offers a unique opportunity to assess the relationship between digital democracy, voter participation and election outcomes