LANSING – Embarrassment and the Internet could be the keys to getting more people to the polls, two political experts say.

For Ingham County Commissioner Mark Grebner, the possibility of public embarrassment can be an effective tool in motivating people to vote.

“In this society, voting is a private behavior,” Grebner said. “For as long as it is private, people won’t bother to go out and vote.

“But what if your neighbors will see your voting record? Then there is pressure. People want to carry on the appearance that they are responsible citizens.”

Grebner and two Yale University researchers mailed 80,000 postcards before the August primary elections. A fourth of them warned recipients that their voting records will be shown to their neighbors. The other cards were simple reminders to vote.

Citing the results of the study, Grebner said that among those who received the postcards with warnings, 38 percent voted. Among those that received the reminders, 30 percent voted.

The increase in voting rates, however, came at a stiff price, said Grebner, who is also a political consultant in East Lansing.

The project, which cost $24,000, was funded by a research grant through Yale University. In addition, the researchers had to contend with “more than 1,000 hostile phone calls and e-mails” from people who resented the disclosure of their voting records.

“We picked up a bat, swung it at a hornet’s net and expected to get stung,” Grebner said. “Right from the start, we knew there would be a lot of angry people.”

Grebner’s next project will test the effects of positive reinforcement on voting behavior.

He will be regularly mailing newsletters to the residents of about 100 city blocks in the state for the next five years. These newsletters will recognize the residents who consistently go out and vote during every election.

Grebner is also planning to give stickers and banners to conscientious voters. The text on these materials would read, “I voted in every election in 2006” or “3 for 3 in 2006,” meaning the person voted in all three elections in 2006.

“I want to create positive public pressure,” said Grebner. “It’s the same reason why people paint the front of their houses much better than the back.

“We want to show our neighbors our good side, our better side.”

John Clark, a political science professor at Western Michigan University, proposes less controversial methods to increase voter turnout – voting by mail and through the Internet.

“Right now, the mail is used only for absentee ballots,” Clark said. “But if regular voters could mail in their ballots, it saves them the trouble of showing up on Election Day.”

Internet voting is another viable option, said Clark, but only if some inherent problems are resolved.

“There is a security issue in ensuring the legitimacy of votes cast on the Internet. And there is an access issue, especially for older people who might not be well-versed with Internet technology,” he said.

These novel approaches are driven by local and statewide statistics that show low voter turnout in Michigan.

During presidential elections, slightly more than half of all eligible voters in Michigan cast their ballots.

In St. Joseph County during the August primary, 13.5 percent of registered voters participated, a figure that County Clerk Pattie Bender described as “pathetic.”

St. Joseph has 26 precincts with 42,611 registered voters, based on the latest tally of the Department of State.

Bender, however, said that voting rates during the primary shouldn’t be taken as an indicator of the turnout during Election Day.

“It seems to be a lot of interest this election year,” she said. “One indicator is the volume of requests for absentee ballots and we’ve had many inquiries.”

Clark said the only way to consistently increase voter turnout is to gain a fuller understanding on why people don’t vote.

“To generalize that people don’t vote just because they are lazy is to miss many real and important reasons for not voting,” Clark said.

“Some people don’t see their vote having an impact on society. Others don’t see any real options because they don’t trust all the candidates running for office.”