“Blind Voting”: It’s more than just “swiping right.”
Imagine this; you are swiping through Tinder looking for a date and find a seemingly attractive person with similar interests as you, so you decide to swipe right. The two of you match and have a brief conversation that starts with you using a cheesy line about how their dog is cute but they are cuter. Before you know it the two of you decide to meet for drinks. What do you not do? You don’t talk to them about their crazy aunt, how they like their coffee with two sugars, and that they love pineapple on pizza; your ultimate red flag. You might learn some of these things on the date or you might find out several dates down the line when they surprise you by picking up pizza for dinner. Either way, one date doesn’t allow for you to know these things about this person.
Blind voting is the same thing. Many people vote for a candidate based on the use of shortcuts. Are they my political party? Do they look like me? Are they a good speaker? This is similar to how, when swiping on Tinder, you look for attractiveness, similar hobbies, and physical proximity. Sure, blind dates can be fun and exciting, so what is wrong with blind voting? VotingSmarter’s CEO Terry Crandall said it best when on The Chris Voss Podcast, “Showing up on election day isn’t a date, it’s a relationship.”
With at least a two year term in the house, six years in the senate, and four to eight years as president, voting for a candidate is the first step in potentially committing to a long-term relationship, not a one time meeting for drinks. So why do people vote blind? The same reasons people go on blind dates! It’s easy, quick, not emotionally taxing, and it’s an introduction to the dating world.
Similar to singles looking for a partner, VotingSmarter recognizes that many voters don’t know where to start to make an informed vote. We also know that politics can seem overwhelming and people want to be told the facts without having to spend the time researching every political candidate. That’s why our app does the grunt work for you and is fair, fast, and fun. VotingSmarter is your first stop for entering the political scene and is structured as a dating app similar to Tinder, Bumble, or Hinge but gets to the important details quickly. Imagine if you had known your date likes pineapple on pizza before agreeing to the meet! Would you have still given them your time?
The #CandidateMatchmaker has users swipe right to agree, up to strongly agree, left to disagree, and down to strongly disagree with different statements about different political topics such as, the economy, gun control, the legalization of marajuana, and more. The app then matches the user with candidates that hold the same beliefs, the highest being the user’s #PoliticalMatch. VotingSmarter turns hours of research into five minutes of fun, getting someone excited about being one step closer to making their informed vote. At VotingSmarter, we want to help your vote be more than just a careless swipe right.
(Contributed by Sydney Kerl, Marketing Intern at VotingSmarter)
