Politics Online: Is it Politics as Usual

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Politics OnlineIs it Politics as Usual?

• Brad, Mike, Phil

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The Election Process Digitized

• Traditional Voting
• Non-Secure Voting due to Hacking
• Expense of Research to Ensure Security

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Political Parties Online

• Political parties are crucial to the democratic
  process
• Past technologies limit political organizations
• Many organizations are now online
• Web sites illustrate a complete ideological
  spectrum

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Political Parties (contd)

• Benefits
• Multilateral communication
• Better informed constituents

• Negatives
• Stratification in the accessibility of the
  internet
• Not all online organizations are true political
  parties

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Advocacy Groups

• A web site can provide more intricate information
  on a groups stance than a simple pamphlet
• E-mail newsletters can be a good form of
  communication, being free, it levels the playing
  field with mailers of larger groups
• Far reaching and not limited by geography a good
  tool to coordinate long-distance efforts
• Sites like www.PetitionOnline.com and
  www.thepetitionsite.com allow almost any support
  group to present a case to show how much support
  they have
• Communication runs both ways with advocacy groups
  that are online instead of just top to bottom
  like official government sites