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Introduction |
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The
Internet is being heralded as a miracle for flagging political
participation, the Internet is generally a mixed bag when it co
me
s
to increasing political participation.
It cannot be definitively stated that the Internet actually has a
positive effect on political participation; in fact, it could even be
determined that the Internet has a negative impact on participation.
There are a number of issues involving political participation on
the Internet, including the extent to which it increases actual
political activity in terms of voting and activism, and most evidence
points to no significant increases in these behaviors even as Internet
usage is increasing across the board.
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Changing Voter Apathy? |
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Most Internet users’ political activities
are relegated to monitoring political events and other forms of passive
participation which have always been done through tradition forms of
media exposure. These same
people are generally already politically involved and generally already
participating to their utmost extent in the first place.
Having the ability to email your senator or cast a ballot on the
Internet doesn’t
me
an that you will necessarily use it, especially if you are not already
inclined to. In other words,
having the resource to participate doesn’t
me
an that behavior will actually change.
The Internet is only informing those persons with the
predisposition to vote or participate in the first place. As
Mel, an art teacher from
Ontario
, Canada
, said, “I use the Internet all the time
to talk about any number of topics, including politics.
But I don’t think I’m more likely to go vote than I was
before, and my voting behavior definitely hasn’t changed at all since
starting a political BBS [bulletin board/
message board].” Non-voters
will most likely stay non-voters. |
Seeing What You Want To See |
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Users
are also tapping into the Internet to inform themselves within their
political niche, which has the potential to actually balkanize the
political market and decrease participation through ignorance of issues
outside of the niche being explored.
While the Internet provides a nearly unlimited outlet and
information gathering source, it is far too big to be able to see
everything, as so it is the natural instinct of a user to whittle down
what they see—and this is more likely to be what they want to see than
not. This encourages people to participate only on issues which fit in
their niches and that they are interested in, which depending on the
person, may be of limited scope.
By relegating one’s exposure and participation to only a
limited number of issues, a person’s participation is not necessarily
increased through the use of the Internet. |
The Problem with Internet Voting |
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Voting is considered by many to be one of
the main forms of political participation, and the use of the Internet
has not created significant increases in voter turnouts.
Voter turnouts have remained static or have continued to decline,
in spite of the fact that more information on political parties,
election events and key issues has increased on the Internet.
It can not be shown that using the Internet in order to inform
yourself on the election has increased one’s desire to head to a
polling station and pull the lever.
Christine, from
Melbourne
,
Australia
, reads about politics on the Internet and discusses issues in the news
with friends and in chat rooms, but does not vote, “I might be more
informed but I still don’t have any greater desire to vote.”
In areas where the Internet was used as a
means of actually casting a ballot, the numbers telling you that the
turnout has increased can be deceiving.
In the case of the Arizona Democratic Presidential Primary in
2000, where voters could cast ballots over a four day period from their
ho
me
computers, voter turnout was reported to have increased dramatically
over the 1996 primary. What
is casually left out is the fact that
Clinton
ran unopposed in the 1996 primary, providing a disincentive for voters
to head to the polls, whereas the 2000 primary was actually being
contested and provide voters good reason to want to weigh in. The
overall turnout was still less than ten percent of registered Democrats
in the state, and half the ballots cast in the election were still done
using conventional
me
ans on one day only or mail in ballot, despite the massive public
relations blitz and the “easy” and extended access to the electronic
ballot. In the end,
electronic turnout was a
me
re three percent of voters eligible for the primary.
In addition, groups such as the Voting Integrity
Project state that due to the predominantly white access to the
Internet, most increases in turnout are among white and are widening the
participation gap between whites and minorities.
They do not considers this to be participation increases since it
is only in one group. They
also argue that the lack of full security and bugs in online voting
systems will lead to a lack of confidence in the Internet as a system of
participation and will eventually cause lower turnouts rather than
higher, by making the option of not voting more tempting for groups
already disposed to low participation levels.
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Links |
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http://vilimpoc.org/research/policy/The%20Net%20Effect%20on%20Popular%20Participation%20in%20Government.pdf
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A
paper from an OSU student which deals with the Internet and how the
ability to use the Internet to increase political knowledge and
activity does not imply an actual increase.
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http://www.zip.com.au/~athornto/thesis5.htm
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A
thesis on the Internet and democracy. |
http://pro.harvard.edu/papers/049/049001TolbertCar.pdf
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Another thesis, this one by a Kent
State student, on the subject of the
Internet and political participation.
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http://www.voting-integrity.org
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Voting
Integrity Project website |
http://www.tecsoc.org/govpol/focusnetvote.htm
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Web page focuses on the issue of Internet voting,
presenting the arguments for and against and providing a list of
links to sites on the issue
. |
http://www.esri.salford.ac.uk/ESRCResearchproject/output.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/february96/bonchek_2-26.html
http://www.cisp.org/imp/may_2000/05_00cornfield-insight.htm
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