Digital Democracy: Call For Online Voting

Online voting should be introduced by 2020 to improve democracy and engage more people in politics, according to a parliamentary commission.

Social media and online campaigning is expected to have a huge influence on the General Election in four months' time.

However, the Digital Democracy report found that Westminster must do more to embrace new technologies and become more transparent.

Speaker John Bercow, who set up the commission, said: "This report provides a comprehensive roadmap to break down barriers to public participation. It also makes recommendations to facilitate better scrutiny and improve the legislative process.

"In a year where we reflect on our long democratic heritage, it is imperative that we look also to the future and how we can modernise our democracy to meet the changing needs of modern society."

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Digital campaigning has already made a huge impact in US politics, where social media is seen as a key tool to collect data and donations.

In the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama raised $690m online and was re-tweeted 20 times more than his rival Mitt Romney.

The White House relies heavily on social media to get its message out to voters.

Key policy announcements ahead of the President's State of the Union address were made on Facebook and LinkedIn, and an advance copy of the speech was uploaded to blogging website Medium.

Three YouTube stars were given interviews with the President after the set piece event.

GloZell, whose YouTube videos are watched by up to 42 million people, made headlines after presenting a gift of green lipstick to President Obama's "first wife". He replied: "Do you know something I don't?"

UK campaigners are trying to learn lessons from American politicians, with two former Obama advisers - David Axelrod and Jim Messina - working for the Labour and Conservative campaigns respectively.

Adam Sharp, Twitter's head of news, told Sky News that he believes 2015 will be the first UK general election fully in the social media world, with tools that can measure how people are responding to speeches and debates in real time.

The Digital Democracy report calls for live social media coverage of parliamentary debates, a new online forum to enable the public to participate and crowd-sourcing questions for MPs and ministers.

One of the report's key targets specifies that by 2020, secure online voting should be an option for all voters.

In addition, it recommends that Members of Parliament who are unwell or have childcare responsibilities should have the option to vote electronically away from the Chamber.

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