Politics in the Electronic Age

I got to thinking on Election Day why do I need to go to a polling place to vote?  Why not vote from the comfort of my own Home/office/school?  Why do I have to go to a polling place, sign my name get a number and push some buttons?  One of the main reasons I can see is security.  Going to a polling place there is physical identification and also visual observation.  Voting by Internet could open yourself up for fraud.  Someone else could capture your electronic signature and vote the way they want to.  Or someone could be sitting there with you forcing you to vote opposite of what you want.  In the early 2000s, the U.S. military began testing the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, which would have let service members stationed overseas vote online. But it was scrapped by the Pentagon after its studies suggested security risks.

Also how has the Internet changed politics?  E-mail is widespread as a way to communicate information.  I get e-mails from different people in the White House telling me items that have happened or will be happening.  The President of the United States even now carries a secure Blackberry for e-mail. I get PA State notifications by way of E-mail.  Phone Chains that used to be done by live persons are now being done with automated machines reminding me to go vote or that they are having a town hall that I call into.   Webcast are done live as events are going on so you watch them on your smart phones.  Websites are up for the parties and also a lot of the candidates.

Wait I still need to know what am I voting for and what are the issues out there.  I don’t grab up a news paper (do people still read the paper ones?) but I jump on the internet.  I start to see who are the candidates I’m voting for by going out to my local Elections website and download the actual ballet I will see.  Then I will go out to each party’s websites and do some reading there, head over to candidates sites if they have any and then lastly I will start up Google and start searching. I can watch any debates that may have happened, read reviews about the different candidates.  Gone are the days of saving all the papers and mailers that come in.  Sure glad I can get information load on.