IST researchers created an online poll to enable Penn State students across the system to make their presidential preferences known. The Internet-based software uses Penn State userid and password authentication to ensure students only “vote” once for George Bush, John Kerry, or Ralph Nader.
In addition to voting, students are asked in an exit poll to indicate their attitudes toward Internet-based voting and sources for election information from newspapers to Internet sites and television. John Carroll, the Edward M. Frymoyer Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, plans to use the exit-poll results in future research.
“Predictions are that Internet voting will occur in 10 years, so it’s important to find out what students think about this venue,” Carroll said. “While it addresses questions about current voting practices, it raises other concerns from whether to show real-time vote tallies to laws about the proximity of campaign materials to polls.”
P.S. U Vote is a non-partisan, student-led initiative to encourage students to register to vote, become educated on the issues and get to the polls and vote. IST has hosted the P.S. U vote site as well as the poll. High school students who attended the 2004 Pennsylvania Governor’s School in Information Technology at Penn State designed the site.
