This new age has been all about smashing the barriers and expanding the Horizons of human thinking. People back in the days refereed a cozy, secure corporate job and follow the same old boring routine day in day after , the smart age millennials are keen on venturing out of their comfort zones and experimenting with new ideas . Startups have become an essential for catering to every single need of a new age millennial, be it for a household requirement or a long-term goal, buying stuff online an or to help politicians win elections. There is a barrage of e-commerce startups serving the former purpose, the political domain is an untapped domain for startups.
Its seen that between the concept of self-driving cars and the Internet of Things, the fruits of innovation seem to be everywhere ,only except the voting booths.Recently a Bandwagon of startups and non-profits have paved way to help make registration easier for voters and to provide them with information about candidates and ballot measures.
Some of the startups taking up lime light include :
1. GroundWork :The Startup Partly funded by Alphabet Inc.’s chair person Mr Eric Schmidt, the startup makes vital use of data analytics and digital outreach to earn votes.
2. Timshel: The aim of the startup is the connection of big data and politics , Timshel is backed by Eric Schmidt, it boasts two dozen clients, including NGOs like the U.N. Refugee Agency, and is an important engine powering the high-tech voter platform for building community, fundraising, and measuring impact.
3. Agora: The Product was a master plan of a five employee startup which spawned at Harvard’s i-lab and is in the process of raising capital. It can be for web and conferencing technology to create the virtual equivalent of a town hall with a candidate or elected official.
4. Follow My Vote: The company has developed an online open source voting platform that will allow voters to independently audit the ballot box.
5. BallotReady : BallotReady, is a UChicago-born startup it is a resource for all the candidate information you need heading into the election day. Type in your ZIP code and it promises instant information on every candidate on the ballot in the area
6. Center for Tech and Civic Life: The Center for Tech and Civic Life is a non-profit organization that looks at ways that technology can modernize how local government engages with the people it serves, and vice versa
7. Brigade: is an “ideas-based” social network that will asks for provocative questions inorder to generate debates and help users find a suitable candidate. Co-founded by Sean Parker, who founded Napster and also Facebook.
8. Tinder for Politicians :With Tinder founder Sean Rad as an adviser Voter.xyz, users swipe right if they agree with a political statement and left if they don’t. The app offers matchmaking with presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial candidates, along with personalities like Megyn Kelly and Stephen Colbert.
Following in the buzz the good news is those days are not . when we’ll be fully interacting with elected officials and government digitally . when it comes to voting or communicating with those officials representing us on the world stage .
Source : Inc. , ChicagoInno .
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