TMCnet News

NewFounders Launches the EveryElection app
[June 22, 2017]

NewFounders Launches the EveryElection app


In an effort to reconnect people and politics, NewFounders today launched the EveryElection app , a user-friendly app that alerts citizens when a local election is coming up, as well as how and where to vote.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170622005918/en/

The way it works is simple: you download the app, input your address and it automatically sends alerts when an election is coming up. Also:

  • Election listings show you the date of the election, the incumbent, the challengers, the polling place and early voting details.
  • The app is refreshed with data every month about new races, challengers, and special elections.
  • A map view provides easy walking and driving directions to nearby elections.
  • Users can upload their address books and social networks to see the upcoming elections near family and friends, and with one click can email, call or text their contacts to vote.
  • A web version and Android (News - Alert) version are currently in development.

EveryElection is currently available in the app store and on the web.

The EveryElection project was started by NewFounders, a Chicago group with a national following founded by tech guru Genevieve Thiers and politico Ellie Bahrmasel. They believe in unity through problem solving. The paramount problem that NewFounders is trying to solve with EveryElection is one of the most pervasive problems for voters: not knowing when or where to vote.

"We talked to non-voters after the last election to learn why they weren't voting and kept hearing the same reason over and over," states Genevieve Thiers. "They didn't know when and where to vote for elections other than the Presidential ones every four years. The rest of the races where their voices also mattered-such as state legislature, Congressional, and local races-those were flying under their radar. It was not easy to find or act on them."

Earlier in 2017, the NewFounders group started talking to everyone that had a data set of elections or elected official in the U.S. After snapping a few data sets together, they were able to gather information on close to 300,000 elections-or about 66% of the elections in the U.S.-in one place. They built an API on top and turned it into an app and web site. Along the way, they gathered some valuable partners, including Swingleft, Flippable, Sister District Project, Ballotready, VoteRunLead, Wall-of-Us, SheShouldRun, 5Calls, Runforsomething, DemLabs, ItStartsToday and more.



"We were thrilled to partner on the EveryElection app to address one of the most important and persistent gaps in our democracy - getting non-voters to the polls," states Colleen Chien of Wall-of-Us.

New Founders and their partners for the EveryElection tool hope that this tool will be used, but more importantly, that they can provide hope to worried Americans through their problem-solving. The group and their partners are comprised of thinkers with expertise in innovation, design and tech that see myriad ways that current systems can be modified to bring people and politics back together again.


"Whether it's for town council or the U.S. Senate, Americans everywhere are embracing the notion that government matters, elections change lives, and their votes count. EveryElection is an outstanding tool for times like these, when newly energized voters are eager to stand and be counted," states Jonathan Zucker, founder of ItStartsToday .

Standing and being counted is also just the beginning. NewFounders is encountering a large number of citizens that want to fix basic problems and just lack a method to engage.

"What's amazing about this app is that our team of 6 worked alongside 11 organizations and 97 donors to pile onto a major problem and solve it," states New Founders Director of Product and Operations Jeremy Abrams. "If we can do it once, we can do it again."

And the group does intend to build more. "A lot of people don't think that activist groups can or will act together," states Chief Political Officer Ellie Bahrmasel. "We're here to show that not only are we working together, but that we're all solving critical needs within our democracy."

ABOUT US

NewFounders (formerly RISE) believes in unity through problem-solving, and is comprised of design, tech and innovative thinkers that believe in unity through problem solving. The EveryElection app is just the first of many tools and projects they hope to create to reconnect politics and people. The group was founded the day after the 2016 election, and has five full-time employees, located in Chicago, as well as two women co-founders. See more at www.newfounders.us. A video is available here .


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]