Affiliations: [a] Southeastern Louisiana University, SLU Box 10451,
Hammond, LA 70402, USA | [b] Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Road,
Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA | [c] University of Louisiana at Monroe, 120 Stubbs Hall,
Monroe, LA 71209, USA
Abstract: This study focuses on legislators' homepages as a political
communication channel for constituents to remain informed of state legislative
decisions and actions, as well as legislative issues. Included in this research
is an examination of whether state legislators in the United States offer
Internet tools and online relationship-building strategies as a means of
political communication. Regression analysis of results from the content
analysis of state legislators' official homepages (provided by their respective
state legislatures) led the researchers to find for the most part, there is
still a digital divide when considering the tools available on the legislative
homepages that offer constituent relationship-building strategies as well as
Internet tools. Constituents in some districts are able to utilize more
Internet tools than those who live in others. Age, race and education of the
legislators predicted more availability of tools of communication on homepages.
Race, income and education of the constituents also predicted that more
communication tools were available on legislators' homepages. The results
suggest that even when considering the mountain of information available
online, there are still some population segments that have online access to
specific information relevant to their own districts and some who do not.
Keywords: Online government, online political communication, legislator communication, demographics and digital divide
