Recently, Alabama’s Republican secretary of state, John Merrill, got into a Twitter spat with Mallory Hagan, a Democrat running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, over whether Merrill is suppressing the vote in the state.

To have candidates for political office, one of them an incumbent office holder, debate such a contentious issue on Twitter demonstrates how much social media has become a part of the conversations surrounding elections, including the upcoming midterms.

And that’s hardly the only way social media touches politics these days. Candidates use Facebook pages. Voters share videos and news links to help or hurt a given party or candidate. Sitting office-holders regularly comment on current events. Social media users locally also share their experiences with how the voting process works in the state.

How big a part of the political conversation is social media, and how much influence does it wield in decisions being made? With social media now a common way for people to access and share information, what role will Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms play in the upcoming midterm elections locally?

While the exact impact is only a guess, it is clear that local voters and local candidates are relying on social media to participate in the next round of voting – even in the face of evidence that outside forces have used it to manipulate the electorate. Read more.