Technology Infrastructure

Voting Information Project

The Voting Information Project wants to make it much easier to find your polling location online. 

More specifically, the project works to get all 50 states to publish polling place information and candidate information in a standard format.  These “feeds" of voting information will be available to all information providers in a recognized format.  Web developers will be able to easily build apps or widgets that can help folks find their polling place.  Thus, any organization – campaigns, schools, non-profits, hotlines – will be able to serve as a distribution channel for voting information-- directly from election officials to voters.

Voter Registration Tool

Groups running voter registration campaigns have faced a dilemma about how to store applicant data in a secure and sustainable way. Recognizing these systemic problems, the NOI contracted with the Voter Activation Network to build a tool for data-entering and storing voter registration applications, making this tool available to progressive non-profits conducting voter registration campaigns free of charge.

The Data Entry Consolidation Center (DECC)

The DECC was created as a service to assist youth vote organizations in data-entering either voter registration applications or pledge cards. This service was instrumental in filling in the gaps the NOI saw in the youth table groups' efforts to get voter registration applications photocopied and data-entered, as most groups from the Democracy Alliance's 2008 youth table were still investigating vendors and looking into the collection process. The NOI partnered with ISSI (a progressive data firm) to hire staff, find a data-entry vendor and establish procedures and process to manage the DECC for the youth table. This effort allowed the DECC to process over 247,000 voter registration applications and pledge cards by Election Day.

GoVote.org

The NOI partnered with progressive mobile phone company CREDO Mobile to build GoVote.org, a voting information site. Potential voters could look up polling locations and every piece of relevant voting information, such as I.D. requirements, voting hours, and early-vote dates. In 2008, it provided over 100,000 people with correct voting information. And, in keeping with our grassroots philosophy, all voting data in GoVote.org's database is open and editable by users.