Study: Digital Divide Is Disappearing

By Todd Spangler, Interactive Week

November 2, 2000

"We've got to do some tests to find out where our learning curve is," said Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center, an administrative and educational organization for state and local election officials.  

But Lewis said that even if the testing proves successful, voting over the Internet will not have the green light to proliferate because security concerns and problems with available voting software continue to exist.

For example, various technical glitches struck the Arizona Democratic primary in March that allowed Internet voting, including the denial of access to some voters, Lewis said.  

"Arizona, by public election standards was a disaster," he said, pointing out that election was conducted by the state's Democratic Party and not by government election officials.  

Lewis said that widespread, government-sanctioned voting using the Internet will take some time.  

"We can go through all these tests and everything will go extraordinarily well. But that doesn't mean the technology is safe. It's just one more experience under the belt," he said.

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