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FILE: January 2, 2012: Potential caucus voters cast shadows on an Iowa state flag at a GOP campaign rally, Clive, Iowa.REUTERS

Democrats are thinking about using Internet balloting in 2016 to expand their voter base and select a president -- prompting Republicans to consider such a strategy to keep from losing ground.

Iowa Democrats proposed the idea and several others during a recent Democratic National Committee meeting, saying Internet balloting could expand access to their unique caucus process to overseas military personnel, absentee voters and others.

They have already conducted some interviews and are now embarked on a listening tour to get input from party activists, caucus experts and others, says Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Christina Freundlich.

Were looking at different options, she told FoxNews.com earlier this week. Democrats are always looking at ways to get more people in 2016 to participate in the Democratic process.

The idea of online voting is nothing new, but Iowa Democrats considering the idea, with the DNCs support, has reignited debate on the issue.

I think its a very bad idea, says the Heritage Foundations Hans von Spakovsky, who thinks computer-based voting will never happen, or at least not in the foreseeable future.

Von Spakovsky, manager of the conservative think tanks Election Law Reform Initiative, made in his case Friday in large part by citing examples of online voting gone wrong including a 2010 test run in the District of Columbia.

The citys Board of Elections and Ethics suspended its new Internet-based voting system just days into the test run, after observers reportedly heard the University of Michigan fight song when trying to cast a vote.

It was the work of a Michigan professor who was assisting in the project and who challenged his students to hack into the system.

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Democrats propose Internet voting in 2016, making Republican also consider the idea