Vote early, vote often? Teledemocracy in European cities

This paper presents the detailed results of an empirical survey on tele-democracy in 31 European cities covering 14 states. It shows that progressive city-administrations in Europe are early adopters of tele-democracy with a diffusion rate of 72 per cent. Analysis of the survey results illustrates that cities are using tele-democracy to improve service access and the quality of services. This research shows that electronic or Internet voting is a priority for only a minority of cities. The paper suggests a typology of tele-democracy and makes wide-ranging policy suggestions. In the debate over whether information and communications technologies will have a beneficial or detrimental effect on the quality and legitimacy of local government, this paper takes an optimistic stance based on the evidence of the survey.