ASHINGTON - Congress will consider testing Internet voting, following a bill introduced yesterday by Democratic Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois.
Three states have experimented with letting citizens vote over the Internet in order to boost Election Day turnout, and California is conducting a wide-reaching study of its effects. The ''Digital Democracy Study Act'' proposed yesterday would elevate the debate over e-voting to the federal level, instructing the president to determine whether it could work.
''For a long time, I have been concerned about the lack of voter participation in America,'' Jackson said. ''At the same time, technology is increasingly becoming part of our everyday lives. The goal is to involve more people in the political process through Internet voting.''
Jackson cited statistics from the Congressional Research Service showing that 42.1 percent of US households had a personal computer in 1998 - a 74.7 percent increase from 1994.
The bill has bipartisan support but is not expected to receive consideration this year.
