bytes and ballots

So Wired has what is by most accounts a fairly balanced story on Internet voting in the United States. But I do have to point out that the story neglects to reference "Point, Click and Vote: The Future of Internet Voting", or to pick up the point of view that Thad and I articulated there. Maybe next time ...

I've now had a chance to recover from the election, and am catching up on some stuff that accumulated in the past two weeks. One is an interesting article by Michael Cornfield, "The Internet and Politics: No Revolution, Yet." His conclusions are interesting:

Looking ahead, it's clear that the Internet's role in politics will continue evolving as the technology improves and users continuously adapt it for new purposes. And someday, the iconic internet president may emerge, dominating the medium like FDR did with radio and JFK and Ronald Reagan did with television.

But thus far, the most compelling narrative about the internet's political is not about candidates' skill with new media. Rather, it centers on stories from the grassroots: activists' use of email and Web sites; small donors' contributions online; bloggers' passion to tell stories and debate issues; and amateur videographers' quest to record "gotcha" moments. Perhaps that is the most fitting contribution this technology can endow to democracy.