For Immediate Release
October 10, 2000
Contacts: Neil Tickner, 301 405 4622 or ntickner@umd.edu

Challenges of Conducting Elections on the Internet Focus of Oct. 11-12 Workshop

WHAT:

During next month's general election, four counties in California are scheduled to conduct a technical test to gauge the feasibility of voting by the Internet the latest of a handful of similar experiments conducted around the United States. While "E- voting" has been suggested as a way to increase voter participation especially among the young and as a way to enhance participatory democracy, it presents formidable technical, social, and legal obstacles.

The Internet Policy Institute (IPI) and the University of Maryland will conduct a two- day workshop discussing the lessons learned so far and the risks and benefits associated with E-voting. In part, the workshop is designed to develop an agenda for future research, and draws on the University's strength investigating the social, political, and technical impact and design of the Internet.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the workshop responds to a White House request for a study of the feasibility of Internet voting. The nonpartisan IPI is the nation's first independent, nonprofit research and educational institute created to provide objective, high-quality analysis of the key issues affecting the global development and use of the Internet.

WHO:

University of Maryland president C.D. Mote Jr. will chair the workshop. Political scientist Paul Herrnson and computer scientist Raymond Miller, also from the University of Maryland, helped organize the workshop and will serve on the panel. A complete agenda and listing of the panelists is available on the Web at www.netvoting.org. A Webcast will also be available at this site.

WHEN:

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.,
and Oct. 12, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

WHERE:

The workshop will be held in the conference auditorium at the Freedom Forum, 22nd Floor, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va.