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Google's Search Engine Directs US Voters to Ballot Box

  • Associated Press

A screen shot shows a fragment of election-related information Google makes available to potential voters in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia.






Turnout effects

It's difficult to predict whether Google's efforts will have a major impact on how many people cast ballots, says Michael McDonald, a University of Florida political scientist who closely studies election turnout.

That's because Google will narrowly target its voting instructions to people who are actively seeking that information. Sample requests that will elicit a helping hand from Google include “what do I need to vote,” “when can I vote,” “what is the absentee ballot deadline” and “can I vote by mail.”

The summary boxes won't appear for broader requests pertaining to the election, such as “Clinton” or “Trump.”

That means Google may primarily end up helping out “politically engaged” people who'd be likely to cast a November ballot even without prodding from the world's most popular search engine. “It's an open question on how large the positive effect will be,” McDonald said.

Online prodding



McDonald, though, says it is always difficult to predict which candidate in an election stands to gain the most from an increase in voter turnout. As an example, he suggests, Google's effort could easily help increase the number of younger people more inclined to vote for Clinton - or put more ballots in the hands of less educated, disillusioned citizens backing Trump.