Young people in the Unites States do not appear to be very active in the political forum, as only 15 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds vote.

Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver, who was at Iowa State last week to promote voting among youth, wants to use technology to increase that number.

“I am very interested in finding innovative and creative ways of bringing people who haven’t been a part of the political process into it,” said Culver, state commissioner of Elections for Iowa. “It is difficult in attracting young adults to vote.

“The youth are online in record numbers, yet vote in record lows. It was felt that by blending the two together, we may attract more people to vote,” he said.

A goal during Culver’s administration is to make Iowa a more user-friendly state with Web services. Testing out Internet voting is one way he feels that this will happen.

“I guarantee Internet voting would create more voter interest in young voters,” said Steffen Schmidt, university professor in political science. “The 18- to 24-year-old age group is not in the habit of voting but are a group known to use the Web aggressively. By offering online voting, they would be more likely to become involved.”

Iowa is the third state in the nation to try out Internet voting. Washington and Virginia both tried it out earlier this year.

“In Washington and Virginia, about 85 percent of voters have taken part in the voluntary study,” Culver said. “Of those people, 80 percent said they would vote by computer again in the future if the option were available.”

The system will work like this: Voters at select precincts in Johnson and Woodbury counties will vote at their regular precincts. Once done casting their ballots, they will be given the opportunity to partake in a voluntary project over the Internet.

They then will have a chance to cast their vote by computer in a non-binding election. Voters will be given a floppy disk and go to a private area to vote.

“Instead of a paper ballot and pencil, a mouse and computer will be used,” Culver said. “After making a few clicks of the mouse, results will be updated instantaneously.”

Culver said that if this goes well, Internet voting would be an ideal tool for the future.

“We would be able to use technology that is already existing,” he said. “It is a cost-effective and convenient solution.”

Schmidt said he believes the response of Iowan voters will be positive.

“Americans are excited about new products and ideas,” he said. “This allows people to quickly take care of their needs quickly, so they can get more done in a 24-hour day.”