New App Facilitates Access to Election Information

Voters in Tuesday’s Primary have another way to inform their choices at the ballot box, thank to a new app that aims to allow easier access to election information, as well as provide insight into the candidates’ views on major issues.

Two matrix screenshots from the Activote app as of Monday morning.

Activote is the brainchild of a Boston couple, Victor Allis and Sara Gifford, who are its respective co-founder and CEO and co-founder and COO, while Paul Erik Raué of Philadelphia serves as the company’s co-founder and CTO.

“You don’t have to do all the research,” Gifford said of the app that provides bios for each candidate. “It puts that information in the palm of you your hand.”

Said Gifford: “Part of the idea [behind the app] is if voting becomes easier and less daunting…and if voters can see who believes what they believe, they’ll be a lot more empowered in my vote.”

Gifford said the app contains “an algorithm that plots [users] into the matrix…and asks candidates to do the same” based on their responses to a series of policy questions, and as of Monday, four of the five District 8 candidates and eight of the 15 at-large candidates had participated.

The app also poses one question each day related to public policy on the federal, state and local levels.

“The idea is that someone can step by step, answer the questions and learns about public policy,” Gifford said.

Meanwhile, Gifford underscores that the mission of Activote is nonpartisan and only seeks to increase vote participation.

“Our mission is that more people participate in democracy,” Gifford said. “We’re not trying to sway people’s choices, but just to empower them with a choice.”

You can visit the ActiVote website at www.activote.net or download it in the App Store for iOS devices or Google Play store.

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