VoteOrElse.org - using voter file data and social psych to GOTV

[sethbrownbk]

What problem are we trying to solve?

The project is called VoteOrElse.org. "You pledge to vote. We make sure you do." Although the majority of Americans support progressive and center-left politics, many progressives don't vote. Voters tend to be more conservative than Americans overall. At the same time, most Americans don't know that data about whether they have voted is public, although generally hard to access. By making this data truly public and marrying it with some social psychology and some technology, it should be possible to get hundreds of thousands more people to actually vote, instead of just say they voted. The impact could be huge.

Visitors to VoteOrElse.org will pledge to vote, and provide their address and also email addresses of five friends. The five friends will be emailed and told their friend has committed to vote. The friends will also be prompted to make the same pledge. In the weeks or months after the upcoming midterm election, after the state data becomes available, that user and his/her five friends will be emailed the results. If you don't vote, your friends will know. Since most people keep their promises, especially when they know their friends will find out, this should increase voting among participants.

This effort would also benefit from integration with social media.

A little more info: Since 2002, each state has been required to make available data on who is registered to vote, including who has voted. The data exists, but is often obtained from states through FOIL requests, and used primarily by campaigns for targeting voters. No one has used this data for anything like this before. There are several commercial services that compile and update the data and also categorize voters by political affiliation.

Who will benefit (directly and indirectly) from this project?

Anyone who wants to see more progressives vote, across the country.

Where can we find any research/data available/articles?

http://www.pewresearch.org/2018/02/15/commercial-voter-files-and-the-study-of-u-s-politics/

What help is needed at this time?

Everything. This is just an idea at this stage. I really need help, and fast. The basic website could be launched very quickly, but the data work and integration with data sources would take some time. (On the other hand, the complex data work wouldn't need to be complete for a couple months.)

What are the next steps (validation, research, coding, design)?

Establishing a team with right skills. I don't have a strong tech background, but am comfortable with project management, fundraising, etc.

How can we contact you outside of Github(list social media or places you're present)?

Email me at [email protected], call 646-295-5534.

---

Project management

Checklist for NEW ideas 👶

Hey, you're official! You're now part of the growing Progressive HackNight community. Here's a few things to get started (a couple you've probably already done).

• Create this idea issue
• Flesh out the who, where, and what questions above
• Start the conversation about this new idea on Slack (this project uses #general )
• Respond with at least one update on this issue within the next month

Checklist for ACTIVE projects 🔥

Let's get this project started! When this idea starts taking off, the Progressive HackNight Team will start helping this project's lead(s) out with project management and connecting you to resources you may need. To get there, please complete and check off the following:

• Post an update at least once a month to this issue. Use BASEDEF for ideas, but it's ok even if your update is just "nothing new happened this month" or "we saw a small increase in traffic to our app this month". If there's no activity for two months, that's no problem, life happens. We'll just label this as backlog so others know you'll get back to it when you have the time. If nobody hears from you at all in more than two months, we may mark it as abandoned so that others can pick up this idea and run with it.
• Create a GitHub repository and Slack channel for work.
• Create issues to describe each task that you plan to do or need help with and how a contributor can get started on that task. You might start and stop a lot, so consider issues as your to-do list.
• Create a team for your core contributors
  • This will make it easier for you to manage your github repo access. People on a team have the same level of access. Admin access will allow your trusted contributors to make changes as needed.
  • You can remove and add people to your team as needed.
  • Note: You can also allow collaborators outside of your team and give them more limited access.
• Create a Google Drive, Dropbox, or other cloud storage to share larger files
  • Github and Data.World are good for code and data, respectively, especially when you need version control. But they're not good for very large files, documentation, articles, etc. A cloud storage option will allow you to easily share, create, and collaborate on documents with your team and help organize ideas and thoughts.
  • Doing this early on can help your team stay organized and to onboard new contributors who wouldn't have access to files you all have shared over email.

If you get stuck at any point, feel free to reach out to the leadership team with an email to [email protected] or come find an organizer at a HackNight. We're here to help bring great ideas to life!

[ibrand]

Seth is not pursuing this project right now