Voting could become as simple as logging onto the Internet for rural Iowans, many of whom live miles away from polling locations.

Iowa State recently received a $15,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to study the status and potential for Internet voting in rural communities. The grant was issued in response to growing interest in Internet voting in America, especially given the penetration of Internet services and declining voter rates.

“Internet voting isn’t far away,” said Kyung Jo Min, associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering and the coordinator of the project. “It’s much more effective than a hanging chad.”

The idea for the research study came from Min’s work at Iowa State’s Science, Technology and Society program. He said the one thing that tied those three concepts together — science, technology and society — is the Internet. He believed Internet voting in rural areas also unified these three ideas.

Min will spend the next few months using random sampling to see if Internet voting is truly effective. If it works, he said he envisions rural communities setting up Internet kiosks during election time.

“Rural communities will probably set up kiosks in public places such as libraries, whenever e-voting emerges,” he said.

The Internet is becoming more intertwined with politics. Last year, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean broke records by raising $40 million on the Internet.

More people are also voting online — as evidenced by the debut of e-voting in several states during Super Tuesday. In addition, the Government of the Student Body’s recent presidential election was its fourth election to be conducted on the Internet.

“It’s a lot easier for us to organize the results in an online election,” said Clint Fichter, GSB elections commissioner. “Before, when we used ballot boxes, there were tons of problems with people trying to stuff them. Voting online ensures nobody votes more than once, and the results are immediately available.”

One of the objectives of the Carnegie Corporation is to remove structural barriers to political and electoral participation.

However, the benefits of Internet voting aren’t guaranteed.

The Carnegie Corporation will debate at an upcoming board meeting about the role of Internet voting, said Susan King, vice president of public affairs for the Carnegie Corporation. She said some researchers believe Internet voting could introduce a new breed of security concerns.

“[Our researchers] question some of the Internet,” she said. “Some think there’s too many possibilities for hacking or extremely poor accuracy.”

The Carnegie Corporation, created by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie in 1911, awards grants to institutions that strengthen U.S. democracy, according to the corporation’s information pamphlet.

According to the corporation, 25 percent of Americans live in communities of less than 2,500, suggesting a high number of rural Americans could benefit from Internet voting.