The past month saw some interesting ideas – as well as some interesting predictions for the political tech world.

Some of our favorites:

E-VOTING

Is the idea that paper ballots insure secure elections a myth? Daniel Castro thinks so. In “Stop the Presses: How Paper Trails Fail to Secure e-Voting” for The Information and Technology Innovation Foundation, Castro gives the following three recommendations for e-Voting in the United States:

1. Congress and the states should allow the use of fully electronic ballots.
2. Congress and the states should require that future voting machines have verifiable audit trails.
3. Congress should provide funding for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to issue grants for developing secure cryptographic voting protocols and pilot testing.

PARTY MONEY

Small contributions from individuals were the principal source of fundraising for the national party committees, according to The Campaign Finance Institute’s new report, “Party Money in the 2006 Elections: The Role of National Party Committees in Financing Congressional Campaigns,” by Anthony Corrado and Katie Varney. Some of that money came from broader donor bases that the parties developing through fundraising programs – many of them online. The report found that the party committees

spent more money in 2006 directly supporting congressional candidates than they had in any previous election – devoting more than one out of every four dollars they received to these efforts.

DIPLOMACY

Will the next technology-fueled revolution occur in the diplomatic sphere? David Ronfeldt and John Arquilla argue that it will in “The promise of noöpolitik” for the August edition of FirstMonday. They argue that the information age will undermine classic diplomacy (based on hard power) and favor diplomacy based on soft power. They recommend that diplomats consider

• Supporting the expansion of cyberspace connectivity around the world, including where this runs counter to the preferences of authoritarian regimes.
• Promoting freedom of information and communications as a worldwide right
• Developing multitiered information-sharing systems, not only to ensure cyberspace safety and security, but also to create infospheres for openly addressing other issues.

They also recommend creating “special media forces” to help settle disputes using information and coordination between diplomats and non-state actors, such as NGOs.