It’s important for everyone to vote in every election. There is no excuse for not voting anymore. In this information age, there are many tools, websites, and apps that make registering and learning more about politicians and bills very quick and easy. Here are some of the best tools that I’ve discovered and actually tried. I highly recommend that everyone registers and votes from now on.
I also highly advise everyone not to stay inside their echo chambers of confirmation bias full of like-minded (usually closed-minded) individuals and full of fake news. In order to educate yourself about the important issues and the truth about candidates and voting bills we have to learn as much as we can from diverse resources which shed light from different perspectives — even from sides that we find uncomfortable.
The Best Tools
http://Vote.org The best place to start is to make sure that you are registered to vote. This website also checks your current status as a voter. Sometimes voters are shocked to learn they are no longer an active voter too late. It’s always best to check long before any upcoming election date. You can also change your address or other personal information here.
https://registertovote.us This is another way to register to vote in the 23 states that allow online voting. It’s a mobile app.
https://www.truethevote.org This is a critical new resource for fighting election fraud and voter fraud. Everyone needs to be concerned about the integrity of every election no matter who wins.
Countable.us is the best website I’ve found so far when it comes to finding your local representatives for the House and Senate. All you have to do is enter your zip code and it will reveal who they are along with their contact information.
GovTrack.us is another fantastic website for tracking all bills and how every elected official has voted on each and every one. This provides valuable data for you the next time you have to go to the voting booth. You can see how your local representatives conducted themselves during their tenure in office. If their record demonstrates behavior contrary to what they promised they would do then it’s time to vote them out. Obviously, this is more important in primaries because that’s when you can replace a disappointing incumbent. In the past, this was much more difficult because it just came down to our memories. Today, however, we have all of this wonderful data at our fingertips. The internet — and every politician’s actions — are forever. Since we don’t have Term Limits, voters can become Terminators for those lying elected officials who do not honor their campaign promises. Note: When I say Terminator I meant it as a joke. There are too many politically radicalized individuals out there today who resort to vile and nasty conduct and even violence. I do not condone such behavior!
Every Politician is an excellent website for finding ALL politicians for the house and senate. It’s similar to countable and govtrack in some ways but I think this one dives deeper and provides more data for those who want more information.
https://voteabsentee.webflow.io/ Helps you vote via absentee ballots. This is important for many voters who cannot make it out to the voting booth for one reason or another. Some are the elderly, others are injured or too sick. There also other reasons that prevent voters from making it out to vote. Many voters have a fear of violence which has become too common these days thanks to non-stop political radicalization from the media, academia, entertainment, etc. This could be a safer way to vote until we find a way to vote securely online.
https://brigade.com Helps you connect with other voters who support the same causes and principles that you do.
https://votewithme.us Uses peer pressure and the buddy system to make sure you and your friends and family members go out and vote.
https://www.votesmartjustice.org — New website from the ACLU and the Democrats but it can be used by Republicans too. It clearly shows which candidates are for or against the criminal justice system and the rule of law. It shows how each candidate in your district has voted on every reform legislation.
https://ballotpedia.org — Excellent resource for finding out all of the items that you need to vote on in your local district. This includes all of the tedious amendments and referendums.
https://mustvote.org — Helps you vote by mail which is a controversial topic at the moment. Many people believe this will be abused by the Democrats in the upcoming election so the Republicans and POTUS are threatening to block those states that want everyone to vote by mail like California has already decided to do. This is a true mess. I agree that this is not a trustworthy way to vote. Read the next section for a much smarter and far more secure method of voting.
The Future of Online Voting
It’s rather shocking that we are still voting pretty much the same way we have for over 200 years. We still rely too much on paper ballots and archaic machines. We need to evolve to digital online voting.
Of course, the key will be to make this as secure and private as possible. Fortunately, there are new technologies that can help with this evolution such as blockchain technology which is behind cryptocurrencies.
This will ensure that we can trace every vote to make sure that every vote was valid from a legally registered voter. I know that some people don’t like that idea but they obviously don’t believe in legitimate elections either.
Here are some of the best projects that I’ve found so far for voting tools of the future.
https://followmyvote.com This solution fully understands the value of using the blockchain to make voting secure and transparent while keeping privacy.
https://www.votebox.co/en This solution is similar to FollowMyVote but they are providing a service for companies and organizations to conduct their own polls with the same technology. There’s a free plan for up to 30 voters if you want to give it a try.
Here’s a short video from FollowMyVote that explains why digital online voting with the blockchain is going to be the future of elections.
