Michigan Democrats vote online

Though residents of the seven states that vote in today's primary elections will be flocking to voting booths to cast their ballots, many Michigan residents have already voted from the comfort of their homes.

In an effort to bring more people to the polls, the Michigan Democratic Party provided voters with the option to vote online or by mail in this year's presidential caucus.

As of Sunday morning, 118,000 people had applied to vote by mail or Internet in today's caucus, Michigan Democratic Party spokesman Jason Moon said. In 2000, only 20,000 people voted, and in 1996, a mere 6,000 went to the polls.

"We're always, as a party, in favor of bringing more people to the polls," he added.

However, Richard Valelly, visiting lecturer and Political Science professor at Swarthmore College, said that despite these numbers he was skeptical as to who would actually vote online.

"It's a gimmick [designed] to jazz up the primary," he said. "It's not really the wave of the future."

Additionally, online voting has incited concerns about security and the privacy of online voters.

"It's not a secure means to vote," said Frederick Voigt, executive director of the Committee of Seventy, a political watchdog group in Philadelphia. "It's hackable."

Valelley agreed, saying there is "no consensus among cryptographers over whether Internet voting is secure."

"A lot can happen when the ballot is out of public view," Law professor Nathaniel Persily said. "Whenever someone is allowed to vote by computer, there is a possibility that someone is standing over your shoulder."

In addition to these security issues, Voigt cited accessibility to computers as another pressing issue.

"Obviously, there is a skew in favor of those who have access to Internet" or who are familiar with it, Persily said.

However, Persily said he expects a national movement toward Internet voting in the future.

"Done right, it is certainly a way to expand access," he added.

Though other states -- including Arizona in 2000 -- have experimented with online voting, Michigan is the only state where voters have the option this year.

According to Abe Amoros, Governor Ed Rendell's deputy press secretary, Pennsylvania currently has no plans to look into the possibility of online voting.

"The last thing that we want to do, especially after the debacle in Florida [in 2000], is to create any kind of suspicion in terms of voter fraud," he said.

Amoros cited security as the biggest problem with online voting. And, unlike in Michigan where the political parties set the rules for voting in the caucuses, the state legislature in Pennsylvania would have to pass a statute to allow Internet voting to occur.

However, Amoros said that Pennsylvania is currently monitoring federal legislation as well as information from states that have experimented with online voting.

Political Science professor Rogers Smith predicted that "in the long run, feasible ways will be found to do it."

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