You can imagine any number of details on how this could work, but here is my rough draft of the software for a viable electronic democracy. First, let the Common Council set the public agenda. This gives them something important to do and keeps them involved, which prevents them from doing something bad. They could use online or telephone surveys or sunspots or whatever means they wished to set out the top five things to be decided in a year. Next, all of the local associations and opinion leaders get to express themselves.
People can vote.
If their minds are already made up they can vote as soon as voting is allowed. If they require more information they can gather it from those for or against the measure, through whatever medium they are most comfortable with. Actually casting a vote can either be done online or at one of the access centers, and security can be greater than maintained by today's Board of Elections with very little effort. My guess is that a whole lot of people will not start paying attention until there is a deadline. The results, of course, are known the instant that voting stops.