Point, Click, and Vote

Point, Click, and Vote PDF Author: R. Michael Alvarez
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815796275
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Whether responding to a CNN.com survey or voting for the NFL All-Pro team, computer users are becoming more and more comfortable with Internet polls. Computer use in the United States continues to grow—more than half of all American households now have a personal computer. The next question, then, becomes obvious. Should Americans be able to use the Internet in the most important polls of all? Some advocates of Internet voting argue that Americans are well suited to casting their ballots online in political elections. They are eager to make use of new technology, and they have relatively broad access to the Internet. Voting would become easier for people stuck at home, at the office, or on the road. Internet voting might encourage greater political participation among young adults, a group that stays away from the polling place in droves. It would hold special appeal for military personnel overseas, whose ability to vote is a growing concern. There are serious concerns, however, regarding computer security and voter fraud, unequal Internet access across socioeconomic lines (the "digital divide"), and the civic consequences of moving elections away from schools and other polling places and into private homes and offices. After all, showing up to vote is the most public civic activity many Americans engage in, and it is often their only overt participation in the democratic process. In Point, Click, and Vote, voting experts Michael Alvarez and Thad Hall make a strong case for greater experimentation with Internet voting. In their words, "There is no way to know whether any argument regarding Internet voting is accurate unless real Internet voting systems are tested, and they should be tested in small-scale, scientific trials so that their successes and failures can be evaluated." In other words, you never know until you try, and it's time to try harder. The authors offer a realistic plan for putting pilot remote Internet voting programs into effect n

Point, Click, and Vote

Point, Click, and Vote PDF Author: R. Michael Alvarez
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815796275
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Get Book Here

Book Description
Whether responding to a CNN.com survey or voting for the NFL All-Pro team, computer users are becoming more and more comfortable with Internet polls. Computer use in the United States continues to grow—more than half of all American households now have a personal computer. The next question, then, becomes obvious. Should Americans be able to use the Internet in the most important polls of all? Some advocates of Internet voting argue that Americans are well suited to casting their ballots online in political elections. They are eager to make use of new technology, and they have relatively broad access to the Internet. Voting would become easier for people stuck at home, at the office, or on the road. Internet voting might encourage greater political participation among young adults, a group that stays away from the polling place in droves. It would hold special appeal for military personnel overseas, whose ability to vote is a growing concern. There are serious concerns, however, regarding computer security and voter fraud, unequal Internet access across socioeconomic lines (the "digital divide"), and the civic consequences of moving elections away from schools and other polling places and into private homes and offices. After all, showing up to vote is the most public civic activity many Americans engage in, and it is often their only overt participation in the democratic process. In Point, Click, and Vote, voting experts Michael Alvarez and Thad Hall make a strong case for greater experimentation with Internet voting. In their words, "There is no way to know whether any argument regarding Internet voting is accurate unless real Internet voting systems are tested, and they should be tested in small-scale, scientific trials so that their successes and failures can be evaluated." In other words, you never know until you try, and it's time to try harder. The authors offer a realistic plan for putting pilot remote Internet voting programs into effect n

Electronic Elections

Electronic Elections PDF Author: R. Michael Alvarez
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400834082
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Since the 2000 presidential election, the United States has been embroiled in debates about electronic voting. Critics say the new technologies invite tampering and fraud. Advocates say they enhance the accuracy of vote counts and make casting ballots easier--and ultimately foster greater political participation. Electronic Elections cuts through the media spin to assess the advantages and risks associated with different ways of casting ballots--and shows how e-voting can be the future of American democracy. Elections by nature are fraught with risk. Michael Alvarez and Thad Hall fully examine the range of past methods and the new technologies that have been created to try to minimize risk and accurately reflect the will of voters. Drawing upon a wealth of new data on how different kinds of electronic voting machines have performed in recent elections nationwide, they evaluate the security issues that have been the subject of so much media attention, and examine the impacts the new computer-based solutions is having on voter participation. Alvarez and Hall explain why the benefits of e-voting can outweigh the challenges, and they argue that media coverage of the new technologies has emphasized their problems while virtually ignoring their enormous potential for empowering more citizens to vote. The authors also offer ways to improve voting technologies and to develop more effective means of implementing and evaluating these systems. Electronic Elections makes a case for how e-voting can work in the United States, showing why making it work right is essential to the future vibrancy of the democratic process.

Voting in America

Voting in America PDF Author: Morgan E. Felchner
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0275998053
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 758

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Book Description
The three volumes of Voting in America offer the most comprehensive, authoritative, and useful account of all aspects of voting in America ever assembled. This set surveys the legal foundations, historical development, and geographic diversity of voting practices at all levels of government in the United States. It marshals the demographics of voter participation and party affiliation in the 21st century by age, occupation, location, region, class, race, and religion, and parses the roles of interest groups, hot-button issues, and the media in mobilizing voters and shaping their decisions. Finally, the set anatomizes the critical voting debacles in the 2000 and 2004 elections and assesses the proposed remedies, including online voting and electronic voting machines. The host of chapters penned for this magisterial set by an unprecedented assemblage of academics, practitioners, and pundits includes such lively topics as: the Electoral College, prisoner disenfranchisement, obstacles and options for American voters abroad, the rise of ballot initiatives, the elusive youth vote, the battle for the swing vote, local issues trends, Wisconsin voter fraud, waiting in line in Ohio, the provisional ballots mess, and partisanship in voting companies.

Convenience Voting and Technology

Convenience Voting and Technology PDF Author: Claire M. Smith
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137391073
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
One of modern democracy's biggest challenges is the overseas voter.This book is the first of its kind to explore the issues of military and overseas voting, an often neglected voting bloc, by investigating the successfulness of overseas voting initiatives, technologies, and policy efforts.

The Right to Vote

The Right to Vote PDF Author: Donald Grier Stephenson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1851096531
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
From its roots in early English rules to its practice today, this work covers the evolution, expansion, and ongoing debates regarding "the first liberty" in America. The Right to Vote: Rights and Liberties under the Law tracks the expansion of the franchise in America from colonial times to the present. Opening with a case study establishing the importance of access to the ballot, the main emphasis shifts to pivotal points in American history including the hard-fought struggles for women's suffrage and racial equality. A chapter on 21st-century voting rights addresses the most unsettled issue we face today—the use of majority-minority districts to enhance the political influence of African Americans and Latinos. A parting look at free and fair elections and the 2000 presidential election debacle shows how votes not counted or improperly credited can make a mockery of the democratic process.

How We Vote

How We Vote PDF Author: Kathleen Hale
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 162616780X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
The idea of voting is simple, but the administration of elections in ways that ensure access and integrity is complex. In How We Vote, Kathleen Hale and Mitchell Brown explore what is at the heart of our democracy: how elections are run. Election administration determines how ballots are cast and counted, and how jurisdictions try to innovate while also protecting the security of the voting process, as well as how election officials work. Election officials must work in a difficult intergovernmental environment of constant change and intense partisanship. Voting practices and funding vary from state to state, and multiple government agencies, the judicial system, voting equipment vendors, nonprofit groups, and citizen activists also influence practices and limit change. Despite real challenges and pessimistic media assessments, Hale and Brown demonstrate that election officials are largely successful in their work to facilitate, protect, and evolve the voting process. Using original data gathered from state and local election officials and policymakers across the United States, Hale and Brown analyze innovations in voter registration, voting options, voter convenience, support for voting in languages other than English, the integrity of the voting process, and voting system technology. The result is a fascinating picture of how we vote now and will vote in the future.

Evaluating Elections

Evaluating Elections PDF Author: R. Michael Alvarez
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107027624
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
This book explores how the tools of public management and policy evaluation can generate the data to improve elections.

The Internet and Democracy in Global Perspective

The Internet and Democracy in Global Perspective PDF Author: Bernard Grofman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319043528
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
This volume provides an important update to our current understanding of politics and the internet in a variety of new contexts, both geographically and institutionally. The subject of e-democracy has morphed over the years from speculative and optimistic accounts of a future heightened direct citizen involvement in political decision-making and an increasingly withered state apparatus, to more prosaic investigations of party and governmental website content and micro level analyses of voters’ online activities. Rather than levelling the communications and participation playing field, most studies concluded that existing patterns of bias and power distribution were being repeated online, with the one exception of a genuine change in the potential for protest and e-activism. Across all of these accounts, the question remains whether the internet is a levelling communication tool that elevates the profile of marginalised players in the political system, or whether it is a medium that simply reinforces existing power and participatory biases. While employing case studies from various global perspectives, this book investigates the role of digital media and competitive advantage, campaigns and the effect of social media, online communication as way of fomenting nonviolent revolutions and the undeniable and important role of the internet on democracy around the world.

Electronic Government and Electronic Participation

Electronic Government and Electronic Participation PDF Author: E. Tambouris
Publisher: IOS Press
ISBN: 1614995702
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Electronic government and electronic participation continue to transform the public sector and society worldwide and are constantly being transformed themselves by emerging information and communication technologies. This book presents papers from the 14th International Federation for Information Processing’s EGOV conference (IFIP EGOV 2015), and its sister conference, the 7th Electronic Participation (ePart) conference, held in Thessaloniki, Greece, in August and September 2015 with the support and sponsorship of the University of Macedonia. Through the years, both of these conferences have established themselves as leading scientific events in their field, providing a forum for scholars to present and discuss their work. Included here are 31 accepted ongoing research papers, grouped under the following headings: eParticipation; policy modeling; open government and smart cities; general e-government; and e-government services; as well as 6 Ph.D. colloquium papers, 5 accepted posters and 3 workshops. With their combination of scientific credibility and rigor and with high relevance to practice, the papers presented here will be of interest to all those whose work involves electronic government and electronic participation.

Rethinking American Electoral Democracy

Rethinking American Electoral Democracy PDF Author: Matthew J. Streb
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136946292
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
While frustration with various aspects of American democracy abound in the United States, there is little agreement over—or even understanding of—what kinds of changes would make the system more effective and increase political participation. Matthew J. Streb sheds much needed light on all the major concerns of the electoral process in this timely book on improving American electoral democracy. This critical examination of the rules and institutional arrangements that shape the American electoral process analyzes the major debates that embroil scholars and reformers on subjects ranging from the number of elections we hold and the use of nonpartisan elections, to the presidential nominating process and campaign finance laws. Ultimately, Streb argues for a less burdensome democracy, a democracy in which citizens can participate more easily in transparent, competitive elections. This book is designed to get students of elections and American political institutions to think critically about what it means to be democratic and how democratic the United States really is. Part of the Controversies in Electoral Democracy and Representation series, edited by Matthew J. Streb.