Wanna Vote? There’s An App for That

The League of Women Voters of Florida, Microsoft and Supervisors of Elections from several Florida counties, teamed up Wednesday to launch a major new campaign to reach Florida voters in anticipation of the 2012 elections.  Utilizing cutting edge Smartphone technology, registered voters will now be able to connect readily with their county Supervisor of Elections Office, to ensure their registration information is current and complete.

President of the League of Women Voters of Florida, Deirdre Macnab, in making the announcement said, the League was extremely excited to be partnering with Microsoft to introduce such ground breaking Smartphone Tag technology and helping every Floridian to “Be Ready to Vote,” as the campaign is called.

“This is new technology and Florida is the first state to embrace it,” said Macnab. “With the attention of the nation next year on our state, it is really thrilling to think that we are in partnership with Microsoft, introducing something that will really help citizens not be spectators, but active participants, by helping them be ready, confident and prepared for the election next year and beyond.”

The over-arching goal of the “Be Ready to Vote” campaign is to make voting as accessible and convenient as possible, and this is very important in view of Florida’s mobile population, she said.

Five Supervisors of Elections, including Bill Cowles of Orange County, have already embraced the new technology, most already with their own Tags to print or display on mailed materials and vehicles.  The other counties currently on board are, Polk, Martin, Palm Beach and Osceola.

In addition to counties having their own Tags, a Tag from the League of Women Voters of Florida will connect to a mobile site built by Microsoft, and voters will be able to enter their county of residence and view a menu of ways to connect to their local Supervisor of Elections, whether it is by phone, via e-mail or in person.

Adam Shapiro, Business Development Manager for Microsoft Tag, who demonstrated the new mobile app technology said, Microsoft was thrilled to be a part of a project that connected Florida voters instantly with their various counties and Supervisors of Elections.

“You don’t know when a voter is going to wonder about their status; it could be while waiting for the bus, or reading a newspaper,” he said. “And what the Tag technology can do is, it provides an opportunity for that registered voter to find out their status and do something about it right at the point they are thinking about it.”

Noting that the process was a very simple one, Shapiro conducted an on-the-spot demonstration, where he scanned the Polk County Supervisor of Elections County Tag using a smartphone and was instantly connected to that office. Voters can then check that their voter record is complete and updated.

Cowles, one of the early adopters, expressed his appreciation to the League and Microsoft for getting the technology up and running. He particularly welcomed the simplicity with which the League had narrowed down those four areas on which voters should take action – updating your name, address changes, renewing your request for a vote by mail ballot and updating your signature.

“Being ready for elections is so important and we need to get the message out,” Cowles said. “That’s probably the hardest part we as supervisors have to do — getting voters to wake up, realize that the election process is coming and coming pretty rapidly.”

While Municipal Election dates vary across the state, Florida will hold its Presidential Preference Primary on January 31, 2012 and Primary Election on August 14, 2012. Nationwide, the General Election will be held on November 6, 2012.

The new smartphone technology is being made available to all 67 counties in the state, at no cost to Supervisors of Elections or voters. Once adopted, it is expected to boost turnout of prepared and active voters.

Asked whether the new mobile technology will help compensate for the voting restrictions passed earlier this year by the Republican-led Legislature, and which will most certainly affect minorities and low-income voters, Macnab said, it wouldn’t directly address those concerns.

“I don’t think it directly addresses the concerns about new voter registration,” she said. “This is a tool certainly that is going to be helpful to us, to make sure that those people who are already registered, have all their ducks in a row with regard to their address being up-to-date, or going forward, if they want to know where to vote early.”

Macnab added that, based on feedback from supervisors, few groups were coming forward to undertake voter registration drives, an issue with which the League was still grappling.