Online Voting Rockets in the United States
NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Online Voting
Rockets in the United States
Nielsen//NetRatings Records Huge Jump in Click to Online Voting Site as Presidential Campaign Gets Into Full Swing
Auckland – 21 August 2000 –
As much as kissing babies and popping balloons at
conventions, claims of voter apathy have become a constant
of American presidential races – although this year that
looks likely to change, as three months out from the paper
ballot net citizens are already flocking to Internet sites
to assess candidates and log their preferences.
In
Internet ratings for the week ending August 6,
Nielsen//NetRatings tracked a huge jump in American visitors
to vote.com, a site dedicated to campaign news and tracking
polls on issues ranging from the death penalty for the
mentally retarded to assessments of President Bill Clinton’s
latest speech.
As Americans logged on to follow the
latest news from Democratic and Republican candidates, Al
Gore and George W. Bush unique audience numbers surged for
Vote.com during the week of the Republican National
Convention, Nielsen//NetRatings service showed – pushing the
site to close out the week as the third fastest growing
domain.
New Zealand is planning its first on-line
election in October, with the Central Hawkes Bay Power Trust
reportedly talking with technology companies about offering
itself for a dummy trial run electronic ballot alongside the
conventional postal vote.
One of the firms involved with
that plan has already worked on what was probably the
world’s first legally binding public election over the
Internet — helping host the Arizona Democratic Party
presidential party in March.
But even for a chance to
vote informally, American Netizens showed up for the polls
at Vote.com, recording an overall unique audience number of
more than 270,000 for the week ending August 6, an increase
of 87 percent from the previous week.
“With three months
to go during the 2000 presidential campaign, Republican,
Democratic and Reform party voters are logging on to
political sites to get the latest news from party
headquarters,” said Brian Milnes, ACNielsen eRatings.com
Managing Director Pacific.
“Presidential candidates and
political organizations alike have integrated the Internet
within their campaign strategy as the latest medium to reach
out to voters across the nation and provide them with a gold
mine of political information — all with a click of a
mouse”
About ACNielsen eRatings.com
ACNielsen
eRatings.com is a venture between ACNielsen (NYSE: ART) and
NetRatings Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRT). ACNielsen is the world's
leading market research firm, offering measurement and
analysis of marketplace dynamics, consumer attitudes and
behaviour, and new and traditional media in more than 100
countries, and NetRatings is the leading provider of
Internet audience measurement technology and analysis.
Through the Nielsen//NetRatings service, ACNielsen
eRatings.com is creating the first global service for
tracking audiences, advertising and user activity on the
Internet in more than 30 countries
worldwide.
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