Tag Archives: Google Elections

Ok Google, how do I vote?

On November 4, Americans will cast ballots for 435 members of congress, 36 senators, 39 governorships, and thousands of other races locally. While every election is important, the voting process can often feel complicated, with the information about how to head to the polls spread across multiple official sources.

Get ready to vote with Google.

That’s why we are launching a number of new tools to equip voters with the information they need to vote on the issues they care about this November.  What is my registration deadline? How do I vote? What forms of identification do I need? All a voter needs to do is ask Google.

For the first time ever, a simple search for [how do i vote] or [register to vote] will give you all the information you need - personalized by state - to vote in person, vote by mail, and make sure you are registered to vote.

Voters can even get reminders on key election information straight from the Google App.

What’s trending this election season?

As election day approaches, YouTube.com/Elections and Google.com/Elections will provide real-time feeds for all the latest news and analysis, live candidate debates, and trending videos on the key races and top issues from across the country.

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By visiting Google.com/+GooglePolitics voters can see all Google Trends infographics -- a pulse on what Americans are searching in the final 26 days of the election.

           
Google Search and the Google Politics & Elections teams are working to make things simpler, by bringing technology to the elections process to encourage transparency, engagement, and informed participation.  With so much at stake on November 4th, including the balance of power in Congress, it is crucial that voters have access to all the information they needed to exercise their power to vote at the polls.

Make sure to check back over the coming weeks, as we’ll continue to release new tools to make sure all Americans can discover and connect with our democratic process.

Be informed. Spread the word. Get ready to use your power.

Posted by Anthea Watson Strong, Elections & Civic Engagement Program Manager

Introducing ‘Know Your Candidates tool’ for Lok Sabha Elections 2014

Cross-posted from the Google India Blog

Tool to help voters find information about Lok Sabha candidates and their constituency MP

In the last five months, we have made a concerted effort to provide our users a destination for all their information needs for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. As we get closer to the voting day in many constituencies, we are introducing a new tool as part of our elections portal offering ‘google.co.in/elections’, called ‘Know Your Candidates’. The new tool will allow you to get easy access to relevant information about political candidates contesting from your constituency and the incumbent Member of Parliament.

This tool integrates publicly available information sourced from Indian organizations such as the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PRS Legislative Research and Liberty Institute India. The tool will provide valuable information for each sitting Lok Sabha MP and contesting candidates such as their disclosed educational background, financial declaration and social media presence (wherever available). The Tool also integrates YouTube candidate bios being produced by Ping Network.

Mapped onto the Google Maps interface, you will be able to find the information about candidates by using pin codes of your area or by zooming into your locality on the map.

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We hope that making this information easily accessible will help Indian voters learn more about candidates running for public office and help them to make an informed decision

Posted by Google Elections Team, Google India