VotingSmarter — A New Way to Get Involved

We use apps for everything nowadays, it seems. You can order a three-course dinner from your couch, your sister’s birthday present from your doctor’s waiting room, heck — you could even cruise cyberspace for a late-night companion from your bathroom if you wanted.

Technology has caught up to the hectic energy and constant grind of our current culture. So, why hasn’t our civic life? And we’re not just referring to the news — god knows we are all being force-fed a steady diet of news analysis, pundit opinions, and poll numbers. But if we can access practically anything, already, with a few taps on our phones, why do I have to do graduate-level dissertation research just to find out which political candidates align with my views?

And let’s be honest, people don’t have the time for that kind of deep dive. Not to mention, we’re in a sleek, new age of less is more, and the current social media minimalist landscape reflects that. Thanks to the multitude of Buzzfeed quizzes, I can tell you which Hogwarts house I belong to and who my celebrity “soulmate” is. With an eye on the user-friendly nature of these quizzes, we here at VotingSmarter think it would be nice for you to know who your political soulmate is. And now, we can excitedly say — there’s an app for that!

VotingSmarter, and its candidate matchmaker, will not only provide you which person currently running for office aligns most with your views and values, but it even breaks down the candidate’s stances issue-by-issue, and you can see how well you mesh through a quick and easy questionnaire.

· Does Joe Biden feel the same way I do about abortion?

· How about Donald Trump? Does he think climate change is worth focusing on?

VotingSmarter wants to be the pocket companion you follow throughout candidates’ campaigns, what you look at before you go into the voting booth, and how you check for updates on election night.

Candidate profiles, issue compatibility, campaign contact info, an election countdown, and a voter registration link — all in one place. All you have to do on your part is dedicate a few minutes of swiping! And that’s just the beginning.

“Awesome!” says every concerned citizen, political nerd, and news junky in America.

And we don’t want to just be your guide through the loud, national elections. We are more than aware that what goes on in your states, counties, communities, and neighborhoods is just as important. So we want to help you with those races too. And we’ll get there! Patience, grasshopper.

What you’re reading right now is the voice of VotingSmarter. Impartial, along with our sister podcast, Pocket Politics, will be our hub of discourse, debate, news and media analysis, and unbiased think tank. Can people be “unbiased” you might ask? No. Well, kinda. We are fully aware that it’s hard to separate ourselves from our beliefs and values. But we also know how to show both sides of the story — when applicable. And that’s what we’ll be doing here (and on the podcast). Here at VotingSmarter, we recognize how important perspective and transparency is, and so the credentials and stances of not only our writers and contributors, but also our executive staff, are readily available.

Aaron Sorkin said it best, I think — you like Aaron Sorkin? Of course you do. Who doesn’t like Aaron Sorkin? A Few Good Men, West Wing, The Social Network. I mean, come on — when he said, through his jaded newsman, Will McAvoy, in HBO’s The Newsroom:

“…nothing is more important to a democracy than a well-informed electorate. We’ll endeavor to put information in a broader context because we know that very little news is born at the moment it comes across our wire. We’ll be the champion of facts and the mortal enemy of innuendo, speculation, hyperbole, and nonsense.”

That is what we work to do every day and what we will continue to strive for — and we’ll need your help to get there.

Check back here from time to time (and our podcast Pocket Political on Spotify) for new and exciting content.

And…

Download our iOS app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/votingsmarter/id1511426686

Your humble servants,

— This post was written by writer and contributor, Connor Dobson.