Voting

Why Trump Got 74 Million Votes

The Donald’s evil media genius may not be enough to win the White House again, but it is still enough to have nearly 70 million people vote for him and to no doubt keep Trumpism...

This App Helps Politics Make Sense

Meet a group of digital entrepreneurs whose product is helping boost civic literacy--a critical effort a time when one-third of Americans can't name a single branch of government.

Why White Americans Voted for Trump – A Research Psychologist’s Analysis

A research psychologist takes on the question of what motivated white Trump voters and concludes: It's complicated. Economic anxiety may be a marker but alone does not account for what he sees as a unique...

Why Can’t We Register to Vote Online? (and Other Ways Tech Could Improve Democracy)

American democracy is out of date, in large part because we have failed to take advantage of voting technology. Turnout is now low and the experience of voting and registering inconvenient. Most Americans must still...

The Peculiar Charms (and Perils) of Electronic Voting

It’s remarkable that in a world where it seems everything is becoming more digitized most of the globe still elects their political leaders with pencil and paper. Only a peculiarly-diverse handful of countries—including Belgium, Brazil,...

Can Open-Source Voting Tech Fix the U.S. Elections System?

American voting technology is trapped in the last millennium. This lifeline to democracy is kept secret—closed off from public inspection and controlled by large businesses. It is decades old to boot. Our voting methods ought...

How Democracy Works Is Innovating Government from the Outside In

A federal election is one of the most logistically challenging business models you can imagine: it’s a business that’s open only one day a year, staffed almost entirely by temps (practically volunteers) with limited advance...

Campaigns Use Social Media to Lure Younger Voters

This presidential campaign has taken social media to a new level, expanding beyond Facebook and Twitter and into the world of Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, and Spotify. Both camps are reaching out to young voters...

Obama Campaign Uses Big Data to Target Voters Block by Block

As reported by Richard McGregor in the Financial Times, one voter whose name, age, and address were published in the "Obama for America" app, which helps canvassers target doors to knock on, was decidedly nonplussed...