State and Federal E-Government in the United States, 2005 – Utah and Maine lead the way. How does your state rank?

This report presents the sixth annual update on the features that are available online
through American state and federal government websites.

Using a detailed analysis of 1,620 state
and federal government sites, we measure what is online, what variations exist across the country,
and what differences appear between state and national government. We compare the 2005 results
to 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Among the more important findings of the research are the following:

1) 44 percent of federal sites and 40 percent of state sites meet the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) disability guideline, up slightly from last year.

2) A growing number of websites offer online services. Seventy-three percent of state and federal
sites have services that are fully executable online, compared to 56 percent last year.

3) One percent of government sites are accessible through personal digital assistants, pagers, or
mobile phones, the same as last year.

4) A growing number of sites offer privacy and security policy statements. This year, 69 percent
have some form of privacy policy on their site, up from 63 percent in 2004. Fifty-four percent
now have a visible security policy, up from 46 percent last year.

5) federal government websites have a number of quality control issues, such as broken links,
missing titles, missing keywords, and warnings and redirects to new pages.

6) 18 percent of sites offered some type of foreign language translation, compared to 21 percent
last year.

7) 67 percent of government websites are written at the 12th grade reading level, which is much
higher than that of the average American.

8) The highest ranking states include Utah, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan,
Tennessee, Delaware, and Massachusetts. The most poorly performing e-government state is
Wyoming.

9) Top-rated federal websites include the White House, the Department of State, Department of
Treasury, Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Administration, Social
Security Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Federal
Communications Commission. At the low end of the ratings are the various circuit courts of
appeals.

Full Report: http://www.insidepolitics.org/egovt05us.pdf