The Data and Democracy Initiative actively supports social media efforts to inform and engage citizens about issues that affect them. In Fall 2012, DDI provided a list of resources and and research projects related to the general election.
General Resources:
TurboVote (http://turbovote.org), “TurboVote is a tool that makes it easy to vote and register from home. We offer all the information you need to get registered or vote by mail, and we send you text and email reminders so you don’t miss elections.”
Open Source Digital Voting Foundation (http://www.osdv.org/about)
Ballotpedia (http://ballotpedia.org), “an interactive almanac of state politics”
Research on “get out the vote” (GOTV) efforts from Yale researchers, 2006 and earlier: http://gotv.research.yale.edu/?q=node/58
Vote Smart (http://votesmart.org): site with ballot measures by issue and by state, as well as info on candidates and other voting topics.
MapLight (http://maplight.org): interactive tools for showing relationship between political contributions and elected officials/issues in national and California races.
Follow the Money (http://www.followthemoney.org/index.phtml): from the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
Politify (http://politify.us): “the first tool to forecast the impact of political scenarios on YOUR personal finances.” Started/developed by UCB undergrad.
Votizen (http://votizen.com): “Votizen is a web service that allows you to discover how your friends on social networks are registered to vote, and campaign with them to elect candidates that share your values.”
BEHUM (http://behum.com): uses social networking platforms to connect voters with elected representatives.
Politix (http://politix.topix.com): organizes news headlines into subject areas and Presidential candidates, members participate by taking surveys and commenting on news stories.
Ruck.us (http://www.ruck.us/): “Ruck.us connects you with politically like-minded people based on your unique positions and interests. Join others to share ideas and take real action on the issues you care about most.”
We For President (https://www.weforpresident.com/) “is a new social media platform where users can inform themselves on voting positions as well as key political issues, events, and candidates. Through its intuitive, interactive features, WeForPresident allow its users to express their political opinions, engage in debates, register to vote and find organizations that match their political interests.”
California Issues:
CA State Budget (http://www.budgetchallenge.org/pages/home), an online simulator for balancing the state budget, produced by Next Ten (http://next10.org).
California ballot propositions: http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_2012_ballot_propositions
California Choices (http://californiachoices.org) “is a nonpartisan clearinghouse for state governance reform issues that will enable more Californians to participate in the public conversation about how we can get our state back on track.”
California Voter Foundation (http://calvoter.org): “The California Voter Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working through research, oversight, outreach and demonstration projects to improve the election process so that it better serves the needs and interests of voters.”
Voter Engagement by Race/Ethnicity/Immigration:
VotoLatino (http://votolatino.org): “Voto Latino is a next-generation, constituency based organization that empowers American Latinos to claim a better future by voting. United by the belief that Latino issues are American issues and American issues are Latino issues, Voto Latino is dedicated to bringing new and diverse voices into the political process by engaging youth, media, technology and celebrities to shake up the political process.”
HispanicVote (http://hispanicvote.com): “Hispanicvote.com has been launched to enable & connect with 21.7 million eligible Hispanic voters, with a focus on youth and independent outreach, engagement, interaction & content that reaches the Hispanic vote where they are ‘online & engaged with social / digital media.’”
Mobilize the Immigrant Vote, California Collaborative (http://mivcalifornia.org/docs/Main_Page): “MIV California Collaborative was started in 2004 as the first-ever statewide campaign in California to organize a multi-ethnic coalition of community-based organizations working within immigrant communities and building their capacity to register, educate, and mobilize their constituents for electoral participation.”
Youth Engagement:
Rock the Vote (http://rockthevote.com): “Building political power for young people.”
Campus Election Engagement Project (http://www.campuselect.org/about-ceep.html): “Founded by Soul of a Citizen author Paul Rogat Loeb, the Campus Election Engagement Project is a non-partisan effort that worked in 14 states in 2008, working with over 500 campuses with a combined enrollment of nearly 3 million undergraduates. We’re launching it again for 2012, and as in our highly successful 2008 efforts, we’ll be working primarily through the state offices of the major higher education service learning organization Campus Compact, and with other allied higher education organizations and networks, like Youth Service America, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, American Association of Colleges and Universities, and the National Communications Association.”
UC Berkeley student groups:
Berkeley College Republicans
Cal Berkeley Democrats
Undergrad Political Science Association
Other UC Resources:
Center for Regional Change, California Civic Engagement Project, UC Davis (http://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/)
UC Center for Collaborative Research for an Equitable California (CCREC), based at UC Santa Cruz. See their policy paper of April 2012 on registering high school voters: http://ccrec.ucsc.edu/sites/default/files/ccrec_policy_brief_1_final_apr2012_color_0.pdf.
Institute for Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley, http://igs.berkeley.edu
