MSPPM Student Pallitto Researches State Government Web Sites

Jordan Pallitto, a student in the joint Heinz School and Allegheny College Accelerated Master's Program, recently participated in a research study for the National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement program at the Institute of Politics (IOP), Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. As a Student Fellow at the Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College, an affiliate of the National Campaign program, Pallitto evaluated state government Web sites for assisting college students as new voters and in using absentee ballots. A Web site produced by IOP providing information on absentee voting for college students had nearly 60,000 visitors before the 2004 election, thus encouraging the project. "I had just finished the Web benchmarking project on think tanks for the Heinz School Information and Communication Technologies course, and so knew exactly how to go about the Web-based research. I thought that I could make a contribution to the National Campaign project."

The report provides detailed assessment for each state's site and found a range in the quality of Web sites, from A+ to C.  Many sites suffered from problems in design and content that could be easily remedied. Katie Demers of Harvard and the Student Chair of the National Campaign and project manager, was invited to present the resulting report to the United States Election Assistance Commission and the National Association of Secretaries of State.