Seattle CityClub has launched the 2013 version of Living Voters Guide www.livingvotersguide.org, an online tool thatfosters voter education, deliberation and civil discourse.
In the context of a government shutdown, voters have become more frustrated and overwhelmed with the unproductive and disruptive political discourse facing our country’s decision makers. This tool works to restore some of this hope in our democracy: Living Voters Guide allows voters across the State to share their knowledge about the measures, listen to the other side, and contribute to the conversation to inform their final votes.
Living Voters Guide (LVG) has been used by over 30,000 state voters over three election cycles and was created bySeattle CityClub and the University of Washington’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering in 2010 and was inspired by three goals:
- Restoring trust in our neighbors
- Learning to value our community’s wisdom
- Demonstrating faith in Jefferson’s claim that an informed citizenry is the bulwark of a democracy.
Living Voters Guide 2013 includes official information on all statewide measures and local ballot initiatives provided by the Office of the Secretary of State, and on-demand fact checking by the Seattle Public Library where users can request a fact-check on any claim made by another user.
When users log onto LVG, they take a pledge that they will not make personal attacks on others but focus comments on the issues. Users can then input their zip code and view all the measures that will show up on their ballot this November. Once logged on, users can discuss and debate ballot measures together, clearly understand what fellow voters are saying about the measure or initiative, identify common ground with others, and build a personal, customized pro/con chart that will inform their ballot decisions.
The Living Voters Guide was awarded the Best Overall App and Best Statewide App at the 2012 Evergreen App Challenge and received first place in Seattle’s 2012 Social Innovation Fast Pitch “Social Ventures Partner First Place Award” in the category of Established Nonprofit.
Seattle CityClub is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization dedicated to strengthening the civic health of the region by providing a trusted space to talk about the issues that impact our lives.
