The most interesting part of e-government is online voting. It has already been tried, but should this change in technology prompt a change in the way decisions are made in government?
A local election in Honolulu accepted votes only online or over the phone. Here is coverage from a mostly-positive, milquetoast specialty publication, and a more critical editorial from a local newspaper.
On the federal level, the FCC (the agency best-known for regulating broadcast media, and some of the companies that carry internet data) is accepting comment on online voting, online registration and online public hearings. (Comments can indeed be filed online.)
Many organizations are already using online voting. Student government at state schools in California apparently got it right, on the fourth try. Of course, there is much more at stake in a government election.
The internet makes it easier and cheaper to gather votes of millions of people, so should more issues in government be voted on? I don't think this sort of change should be made based on cost savings offered by new technology.
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