(Page 2 of 42) - E-Democracy: Legislative-Constituent Communications in Minnesota and Wisconsin authored by Alperin, Davida. and Schultz, David.

Abstract

Communications between elected officials and their constituents is a major

concern for political scientists trying to understand the nature of representation in a
democracy such as the United States. In this study the impact of e-mail on
communications between constituents and state legislators is examined. Much has been
written in the popular media about dramatic changes to society resulting from new
technologies such as the Internet and e-mail. In addition, studies in the political science
research literature have examined such topics as the use of new communication
technologies by citizen activists, by state level political parties, by interest groups in their
issue campaigns, and by member of Congress. However, little research has been done on
the use of e-mail in communications between state legislators and their constituents. In
1997, one of the primary investigators in this current project conducted a survey of
Minnesota’s state legislators on the use of e-mail in the Minnesota legislative. Since the
original study was conducted, significantly more citizens and legislators nationwide have
gained access to e-mail and the Internet and use them on a regular basis. To examine
these changes and their impact on legislator-constituent relations over time, a follow-up
survey of Minnesota legislators was conducted in the summer of 2002. In addition, to
broaden the focus of the study and to be able to make some cross state comparisons, the
Wisconsin state legislators were also surveyed in the summer of 2002. The 1997 study
concluded that at least at the time “e-mail may have been oversold as an effective tool of
communication between citizen and legislator. Instead the best way for a citizen to get
her point across is the old-fashioned way – send a letter or visit her state legislator.” The
2002 survey suggests that office visits and sending a letter are still seen as the most
effective way to get one’s point across to your legislator. E-mail is also seen as an
effective tool of communication between citizen and legislator, but only under certain
circumstances. If a legislator recognizes that the e-mail was personally written by a
constituent, it is seen as almost as effective a method of communication as sending a
handwritten or typed letter via the postal service. However, “the problem with e-mail,” as
one legislator for Minnesota put it, “is that one does not have the time to respond to non-
constituents, but there is no easy, non-offensive way to sort out the ‘political spammers.’”