SEATTLE, Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- California voters have a FREE, non-partisan resource at their fingertips. CityClub of Seattle, the University of Washington's Engage have launched California's first Living Voters Guide, cali.livingvotersguide.org, an innovative online tool that fosters voter education, deliberation and civil discourse. The California launch was supported by a grant from The Whitman Institute (CA). The California Living Voters Guide addresses 11 statewide ballot measures.
Living Voters Guide was launched in Washington State in 2010 and has been used by nearly 25,000 voters over two election cycles in that state. Living Voters Guide is a tool to promote digital democracy and elicit broad public input for policy development. It invites participants to discuss ballot measures together, to explore one another's positions, and to build a personal, customized platform that will inform their final vote. This voters' guide is co-created by everyone who participates. It evolves as you and neighbors across California consider the tradeoffs for each measure. It requires participants to pledge that they will not make personal attacks on others but focus on the issues. It invites everyone to wrestle with both the pros and cons of ballot measures in a deliberative path toward decision making.
"The Living Voters Guide will be a tremendous asset for voters in both Washington and California this fall and for many years to come," said Dan Schnur, Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. "Finding credible and non-biased information to make sense of the initiatives on a state ballot can be a difficult task, but the Living Voters Guide provides a vital public service for voters looking to make informed decisions."
This online tool recently received was awarded first place at Seattle's Social Innovation Fast Pitch in the category of Established Nonprofit. Travis Kriplean, Ph.D. UW Computer Science "pitched" the Living Voters Guide in five minutes to five judges. This is the second award for the Living Voters Guide; on Monday, October 1, 2012 the Living Voters Guide was awarded the Best Overall App at the Evergreen App Challenge and was also awarded the Best State App.
CONTACT: Bridget Anderson, CityClub
[email protected]
206.682.7395
SOURCE SeattleCityClub.org
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