Yet while voters in Scotland were enthusiastic about e-voting, (must be all these e-protest petitions you can add your voice to!) they want their prospective MPs to continue to contact them via traditional channels rather than digitally. Some 40% of respondents said they wanted to hear from politicians via local newspapers or radio. Around 38% said they preferred the post.
 
Social media gets a resounding thumbs down from the country’s online electorate. Only 4% of respondents said they thought MPs should be using Twitter to communicate with voters. In fact only 26% felt that MPs should be more active on the internet, against 43% in 2005, showing a need for politicians to adopt a balanced communication approach.
 
“Technology looks like it could be critical in helping to ignite more  interest from the public,” says Alan Worthing, (right)  head of business markets, Virgin Media Business, Scotland.

“The absence of an e-voting system is ironic when you think how many people will schedule a visit to the polling station in their digital calendars, and check their emails, texts and Facebook while they’re queuing to vote.”
 
The 2010 survey conducted by YouGov Plc used a sub-set of questions from the 2005 study. The total sample size was 2,170 adults, questioned online between 1 and 6 April, 2010.  The figures were weighted and representative of UK adults of voting age.