Presidential Elections aren’t exactly the first place you look when searching for the latest technological advances. In general, we tend to see a great deal of “old hat” philosophy from both campaigns and voters alike. However, the 2008 Presidential Election took things to an entirely new level. President Barack Obama’s campaign focused a great deal of energy on social media platforms, engaging a new field of constituents on platforms they used for everyday communication — specifically Facebook and Twitter.
And it’s not just political campaigns that are going social. Rock the Vote encourages young voters to register and vote in each election, allowing their voices to be heard. Since its inception in 1990, Rock the Vote has registered more than 12 million new voters using music, pop culture, new technologies and grassroots organizing to educate and motivate young voters.
Additionally, since 2008 the state of Washington has allowed residents to register to vote online. Since then 38 other states plus the District of Columbia have added online voter registration. So I guess it should come as no surprise that many voters choose to register via the world’s most popular internet hangout, Facebook. A new feature allows users to follow links from Facebook directly to your state’s online voter registration. Sounds pretty fancy, huh? You can read more about the new feature here.
So what do you think? How will the face of our political process continue to change with new technology? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
*Information updated in July 2020.
