Google has received a new patent that may one day allow elections to be held through the Internet giant's website.
The patent is for a voting user interface that will appear on Google Search results to allow users to cast their votes for candidates running campaigns for certain elections or contests.
Google filed the patent for "social voting-based campaigns in search" in October 2013, but it was only awarded to the company on Tuesday.
The patent application includes a fictional TV talent show as an example, with users able to vote through Google on which contestant would be progressing through the show. Users will be able to do a search on the TV show and then click on a contestant they would vote for. Clicking on a contestant could display more information such as the person's profile or videos of his talent, to give users a better idea on who the contestant is and what they are capable of doing.
Another application for the interface could be its usage for marketing research, with corporations signing up with Google for such a purpose. Campaigns can ask the market what the next flavor a food item should come up with, for example, or gauge if a new product would be popular or not.
The technology included in the patent surely could have applications beyond "American Idol" clones, such as in presidential elections. However, when tech news website Computerworld attempted to contact Google for a comment on the approved patent, the company refused to respond.
Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead believes that Google will be setting up the interface to be used for both fun and serious purposes.
"Once we have more secure online identity, I think someday we will be able to vote online for president. To do this, we need hardened, multifactor authentication, but we'll get there," Moorhead said.
Google, in fact, has a dedicated webpage to advise political candidates on how they can leverage their campaigns through Google and digital media, and so having the start of campaigns until the end of the election process entirely run through Google could be a possibility in the future.
