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My Polling Place

The Idea:

What will change in the world because this Project happens?

The goal of MyPollingPlace is simple: to make it easier for people to exercise their civic rights by serving as a quick and easy source of information on where and how to vote.

Many people have good intentions to vote that can be hampered by small but significant obstacles: they can't easily figure out where they should go to vote, or how to get there. They don't know what type of identification they'll need to cast a ballot. Or they're intimidated by a lack of knowledge of the voting machines or ballot format they'll have to use at the polls.

Surprisingly, as of now there isn't a website out there that brings all this information together for voters.

The high turnout throughout this year's presidential primaries indicates that the fall elections may see very healthy turnout levels, including a sizable number of new voters heading to the polls. An informational site like MyPollingPlace.com could do much to help make the process as easy and painless as possible and thus encourage civic participation.

What information will people interact with to make this change?

As a one-stop shop for voting-day logistical information, MyPollingPlace will allow people to interact with the following information:

Where to vote
- Polling place data from secretaries of states' polling-place databases, county election boards, and third-party databases of polling place information
How to get there
- GoogleMaps mashup with polling place data
What they'll need to bring
- State requirements for voter identification
How to cast their vote
- For each state, information on what kind of voting machines or ballots are used and instructions on how to use them

What else have you done in this Cause Area?

A 501(c)(3) organization, People For the American Way Foundation conducts a number of non-partisan efforts to facilitate civic participation, including:

past incarnations of MyPollingPlace.com (focusing only on providing polling place location data)

election monitoring to ensure that every citizen is able to exercise his or her right to vote

the provision of an election-day hotline for citizens requiring help or information

For more information on PFAWF's election protection efforts, visit our Election Protection website.

Cause Area:
- Public & Social Benefit
Cause Area Tags:
Previous Prize Tags:
- n2y3mashupchallenge
Project URL:
http://www.mypollingplace.com
Supporting Organization:
People For the American Way Foundation
Supporting Organization URL:
http://www.pfaw.org
Financial support?:
No
City:
Washington
State/Region:
DC
Country:
USA

The Assessment

What kind of help or resources do you need to turn your project idea into a completed mashup?

We would need:

A user interface designer/web developer to help create an easy-to-use site through which visitors could access all this information
A database programmer to integrate the existing polling-place databases
A graphic designer to help make it look pretty

We've got resources here at PFAWF to compile research on voter ID requirements, voting machines and ballot types, etc.