Ehrhard, Thomas

The implementation of “elections 2.0” - 2019.


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Despite the extensive media coverage of the use of technology in elections, the market and its players remain largely unknown. Who are they? What do they do? What are their strategies? This article provides new empirical data to answer these questions, drawing in particular from a series of interviews with players in the political technology market in France (LMP, NationBuilder, etc.). Contrary to the established knowledge, we show that the sector is heterogeneous and that its boundaries are fluid, including actors that provide wildly different services and that initially embraced different economic and technological strategies. We also show that the nature of the services provided, as well as the partisan dimension of each company, depends on its target customers. However, due to economic constraints, the sector is undergoing a radical restructuring. The laborious implementation of “elections 2.0” in France is continuing with an increasing professionalization of its players, leading the sector to become more homogeneous and internationalized.