>>New soft-money limits prod fundraisers to expand e-strategies...

US Patent Office, Department of Health and Human Services top federal webs, study finds...

Sharp increase in use of government Webs, study finds...

Increasing numbers of people are using the Internet to access government information and services, according to a report released April 2 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The study, The rise of the e-citizen: How people use government Web sites, found that 68 million American adults have used government agency Web sites based on a phone survey of 2,391 people taken in January 2002, a sharp gain from the 40 million who reported they had used government sites in a similar survey taken in March 2000. Overall, 60% of government Web users said such sites improved their interactions with at least one level of government; 49% responded that the Internet made their interactions with the federal government better; 45% found it improved interactions with state government; and 30% said it aided interactions with local government. Tourist and recreational information was the most sought-after content, pulling in almost four out of five visitors to government sites. Research for work or school ranked second in popularity, drawing 70% of users of government sites. Half of those who visited government sites reported visiting the sites to get health or safety information.

Other findings include: 42 million Americans have used government Web sites to research public policy issues; 23 million have sent comments to public officials about policy choices; 14 million have used government Web sites to gather information to help them decide how to cast their votes; 13 million have participated in online lobbying campaigns.

>>Virginia offers live Web help..

The Commonwealth of Virginia has become the first state in the nation to offer real-time, live assistance to surfers over the state's home page, www.myvirginia.org, according to an April 2 press release from Governor Mark Warner. Internet users seeking Virginia government information resources and services now may submit questions and receive real-time responses from the customer service staff of the Virginia Information Providers Network (VIPNet), a public authority responsible for managing the Virginia Internet portal. Launched on a trial basis several months ago, the Live Help service has averaged over 500 chat sessions a month, with customer satisfaction in feedback surveys exceeding 96%. Users most frequently ask how to get a copy of their Virginia birth certificate, where to find state tax forms, how to contact a government official, and what is a Commonwealth. The average chat response time is less than 12 seconds. The Live Help feature is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. During the times that Live Help is not available, users may submit questions via e-mail. The Live Help service is provided in partnership with LivePerson, a commercial firm providing software and other support for online businesses to communicate with Internet users in real time. Virginia also offers one of the few online discussion forums for users to comment on its site, suggest changes in content and design or help others locate information or services. Another outreach effort is the online citizen survey soliciting suggestions on how to imorove the Web site.

New 'soft-money' limits prod fundraisers to expand e-strategies...

Political fundraisers are looking toward Web sites and e-mail to offset some of the constraints on soft-money contributions imposed by the enactment of the McCain-Feingold bill, according to a copyrighted Associated Press article published March 24 on Wired.com.  While direct mail and phone solicitations continue to be the dominant fundraising strategies, both major parties are expanding electronic services to reduce fundraising expenses, reach far more potential donors and engage supporters in grass-roots campaigning at the same time, the article notes. Limits on soft money donations to the political parties taking effect after the fall election will make it more important for campaign fund-raisers to collect large numbers of smaller checks, with electronic applications considered more cost-effective than traditional phone and mail campaigns. Customizing Webs and e-mail campaigns to specific user interests is a common goal through personalized surveys on user interests, followed up by targeted e-mail and other communications to encourage contributions or other activism. The newly-revamped Democratic National Committee site, for example,  has a Tell A Friend feature that lets supporters provide the e-mail addresses of six friends. A recent effort by the DNC to encourage mass e-mailing against President Bush's proposed budget, however, was blocked by the White House through the use of software recognizing repetitive language, ostensibly to prevent virus transmissions. The Republican National Committee also launched in March a new grassroots site for GOP activists and fundraisers, www.gopteamleader.com, that provides tools to contact state and federal representatives; access issues-specific Republican talking points and background papers; research and act on both federal and state legislation; write letters to the editor at both national and local media outlets; and build their own team of activists with whom they can share information.

Congressional Webs get low marks, new study reports...

Congress Online: Assessing and Improving Capitol Hill Web Sites, a study published January 28 by the Congressional Management Foundation,  gives generally poor grades--an average of C-minus--to congressional Web sites. The study found that most sites failed to provide information Web site users want, said Richard Shapiro, executive director of the Congressional Management Foundation, which oversees the Congress Online Project with George Washington University. Nevertheless, the Congress Online Project did manage to find eight sites worthy of its "Gold Mouse Award" and 13 more deserving of its "Silver Mouse Award". Four committee sites and three leadership sites also received gold mice. A major criticism of the study was the tendency to "promote the boss" rather than to provide useful information such as voting records, information on issues before Congress and help in solving common problems such as tracking down late Social Security checks.

The New York State Task Force on Election Modernization conducted a public demonstration of new voting technology in Albany on January 15 and 16 as part of its review of alternative voting systems. Established by Governor George E. Pataki through an Executive Order in February 2001, the Task Force is due to submit its final report and recommendations to the Governor and Legislature in April. The alternative prototype voting machines tested by the public included an electronic full-face ballot touch button system; ATM-style touch screen machines; and hand-held voting equipment. Voters testing the machines were given the opportunity to respond to a survey describing what they did and didn't like about the different voting machines and whether or not those machines were fully accessible to seniors and voters with disabilities. In an interim report last June, the Task Force  concluded that while the existing mechanical lever machines used in New York worked fairly well, they needed to be replaced since the machines are no longer manufactured and also restricted  accessibility to all voters, particularly persons with physical disabilities.

Illinois and Kansas tied for first place in the fourth annual Digital State Survey documenting progress made by states in adopting digital technologies to improve delivery of services to citizens conducted by The Progress & Freedom Foundation and the Center for Digital Government and sponsored by Compaq Computer Corp., released January 1, 2002. The project, based on a comprehensive poll of chief information officers in the 50 states, assesses a broad range of the use of information technology in government, including the use of data processing; telecommunications; and Web services. States completing  the top 10 in the 2001 survey are Washington, (which ranked number one in three earlier annual surveys), Maryland, Arizona, Maine, New Jersey, Utah, Ohio and Michigan. The survey examined digital technologies in eight categories: E-commerce & Business Regulation, Taxation & Revenue, Social Services, Law Enforcement & the Courts, Digital Democracy, Management & Administration, Education and Transportation.

The California Franchise Tax Board has launched several e-government applications designed to be more responsive to customers. The Board, which processes 14 million personal income tax and business returns and collects $33 billion in revenue, has introduced an "e-notification" service that enables taxpayers to get electronic reminders to file their returns. The e-notification provides links to Web sites for commonly used forms, e-filing information, tips on common errors to avoid and information on what's new for the tax season, including a preview of new tax laws. A new service also allows taxpayers to submit online requests for the tax agency to debit their bank accounts for payments, along with an online application to request an installment plan if they are unable to make full payment by April 15.  Another new feature enables taxpayers to review their accounts online--using a customer service number and a personal identification number--to check on payments or balances owed. 

New Jersey and San Francisco have become the latest governments allowing motorists to pay parking fines online.

Effective July 2002, all 536 municipal courts in New Jersey have the option of participating in the New Jersey Municipal Courts Direct program. Tickets for illegal parking and certain moving violations will now include a Web address where motorists can check the amount of their fine and pay online by major credit card. The system has been tested in selected municipalities since January.

In January, San Francisco unveiled a new Web-based payment service for parking  tickets , according to CityServices, the City and County of San Francisco's e-government portal. The service allows payment by a major credit card via the Internet, with a $2.75 transaction fee added  to "cover the cost of electronic processing." San Francisco issues about 2.4 million parking tickets each year. CityServices other e-government services include online property tax payments, building inspection permits, and birth and death certificate requests.

New Jersey is the leading legislative Web, according to a report summarizing a 50-state survey of Webs. The paper, The Politics of State Legislature Websites: An Evaluation of Content and Design published for the August 2002 meeting of the American Political Science Association by three researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology, used such criteria as the quality of content and how easily users could access its content. Ranking behind New Jersey were Minnesota, Alaska, Hawaii and Connecticut. The lowest rated Web was that of Mississippi, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois, California and Rhode Island. The New Jersey Web, which was revamped in January 2002 with the opening of its new 2002-2003 legislative session, is highlighted by a redesigned home page with bill text and member search engines, links to all state newspapers, a clickable legislative calendar with session and committee schedules, and a new "Kid's Page" with games and coloring books of NJ state symbols. New Jersey also is now providing both video and audio Webcasts of sessions and committee meetings.

More Americans did business with a government Web sites last year than paid their credit card bills or traded stocks online, according to the 2001 National Technology Readiness Survey released January 8. Co-sponsored by the Center for e-Service at the University of Maryland and Rockbridge Associates, a private consulting firm, the survey found that over half of American adults with online access visited a government Web site in the past year. Of the 55 percent of adult Internet users logged on to some type of government Web site, 50 percent visited a state or local government site and 33 percent visited a federal government Web site.

In addition, the study reported that 21 percent of adult Internet users had actually conducted business with a government entity online, a higher percentage of users than had conducted bank transactions online (20 percent), paid a credit card bill online (15 percent), or traded stocks online (10 percent). Commenting on the survey, Roland Rust, director of the Center for e-Service and holder of the David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, said, "This research suggests that e-government is in many ways even more prevalent than e-commerce - e-service appears to be an increasingly attractive alternative to standing in line at a government office".

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry opened his  2002 re-election to the Senate with a new Web campaign site, JohnKerry.com, incorporating several of the most advanced features tested in recent e-campaigns. The new Web is likely to be the model for Kerry's expected 2005 presidential campaign. Some of the special components of the site include video and audio endorsements of Kerry from Massachusetts officials and citizens; digital campaign buttons for posting on supporters' Web sites; and a secure online direct contribution system. For those wanting to get campaign updates on their personal digital assistants, the site offers the JohnKerry.com Mobile Edition subscriptions to press releases and other updates delivered to individual Palm Pilots, Handspring or Windows CE-Powered PDAs.

California's Web portal leads the states in terms of functionality, according to "State Web Portals: Delivering and Financing E-Service," a new report released January 16, 2002, drafted by faculty members at Indiana University-Bloomington and sponsored by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for the Business of Government.

The report examines the functionality of all 50 state Web portals on four criteria: openness, customization, usability and transparency.  Combining research from two studies on governments offering electronic services by Indiana University scholars conducted in the spring of 2001, the report concludes that the top five portals  -- California, North Dakota, Maine, North Carolina and Pennsylvania -- provide superior online access to services, contact information for key agencies and are accessible by most people in the states. These sites were contrasted with state Webs that are more limited in their portal functionality, with the study's authors noting that most states haven't yet achieved the promised goals of "one-stop shopping" allowed by state Web portals.

Despite widespread criticism and jokes directed at Florida's new voting machines used in its September 2002 primary, the machines apparently did reduce if not eliminate the problems encountered in tallying the 2000 presidential election returns, according to an Associated Press account . The new touchscreen voting machines used in Miami-Dade and other counties made it impossible for someone to vote for too many candidates in one race, an overvote, and apparently made it harder for someone's vote not to register, an undervote. Such "residual votes" were down 35 percent in the state's seven biggest counties compared to the 2000 national election, according to an analysis by the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project cited by the article. Governor Jeb Bush and other officials have blamed most of the primary problems on poll workers who didn't fully understand the new technology or procedures. There were also reports, however, of machine malfunctions with the wrong party's candidates being displayed and smudged screens registering votes for the wrong candidate. The Florida Department of State is recommending $6 million for voter education and poll worker training next year to try to prevent further election problems, and Governor Bush has said he would consider making state employees available to assist at the polls if necessary.

Minnesota's "North Star" Web portal will undergo a major overhaul to improve its design and make it easier to find information, according to a January 15 announcement. The launch of the new services is expected in March, according to Regina David, assistant commissioner of technology for Minnesota. A primary goal of  the new portal is to help users find information more quickly through a reorganization based on themes--education, employment and Legislation, among others -- instead of by department. Officials said that they believed the new structure would make it simpler for citizens to carry out common tasks, including online tax filing, permit applications and license renewals. The new version of the state's  portal will give citizens convenient access to consolidated information and services from over 100 state agencies. BroadVision--the Redwood City, California company that helped California revamp its portal last year--was retained by Minnesota to assist with its restructured Web. Deloitte Consulting is the systems integrator for the $1 million project. Expansion of personalized features will allow registered users to gain access to state event calendars and content change notifications based on their personal user preferences. Other personalized features include a featured links section that directs users to information related to their search.

Marion County in Oregon has signed a contract for a new voter-registration and election-management system with election.com,   a provider of managed election services based in Garden City, New York, according to an election.com press release issued January 8.  The Web-based client-server election-management system will replace the  County's current, mainframe-based system, and will provide batch scanning and recording of mail-in ballots. The processing of mail ballots is critical in Oregon because elections are conducted entirely by mail, with ballots mailed 14-18 days before the election and returned within a two-week timeframe. The new system will allow election staff quickly to  scan and record voted ballots while simultaneously verifying that the signature on the outer envelope of the ballot matches the voter's signature on his or her voter-registration card. It also integrates voter registration and election management and streamlines a variety of functions of the election process, including address maintenance, districting, election scheduling, ballot definition and tracking of voter history.