By Jeannie Langston, Special and Sponsored* Content.
For the Presidential Election in 2008, only 71% of the voting age population were registered to vote. This was down one percent from the 2004 election. Of the 71% who registered, 90% actually voted. According the the Census Bureau, 46% of the voting age population who did not register, did not register because they were not interested or not involved in politics. Another 4% thought that their vote would not make a difference, and 4.2% did not know how to register to vote. (http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p20-562.pdf)
According to an article entitled, The Ignorant American Voter by Bret Schulte, “Americans are getting what little information they have about the candidates from 30-second commercials, and that’s insufficient as a basis for deciding how you’re going to vote and what you think about our politics.” (http://www.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2008/06/03/the-ignorant-american-voter)
Boris Ackerman, CEO and Founder of Tellmygov.com wants to change this. His website is dedicated to educating the American voter on politicians, bills, candidates, and the current trend in politics. A 30 second commercial gives very little information, and searching the internet for the information can be overwhelming. Tellmygov.com consolidates this information in one site to bring information to the American voter in an effort to change “The Ignorant American Voter” into “The Educated American Voter.”
The Presidential Election is one of the most important elections in the United States. While many people complain about the President and potential Presidential candidates, the American Voter does have the power to change this with the next election. Mr. Ackerman plans on assisting with voter registration as well so that all those who want to vote can get registered to vote and make a difference in the next election.
Background on Tellmygov.com
On July, 4, 2011, Tellmygov.com went live. On this social networking website, members can view profiles of politicians specific to them. Like other networking sites, Tellmygov.com has a wall where members see posts and activity from other members he or she has friended, and a member can send a message to another member. But Tellmygov.com takes it a step further with real-time chatrooms so that members can have live discussions and debates.
There are also forums which also offer another avenue for a member to get on their soapbox about any issue he or she chooses. In addition to the forums, members can start his or her own group about any issue he or she is passionate about and invite other members to join the group and take action.
What kind of information can a member find about a particular politician? Politician profiles include full name, the office he or she holds, the office he or she is seeking, his or her address, a phone number, religious affiliation, education, birth date, organizations, and some financial information. This is just a portion of the information you can find on an individual politician.
Another feature offered on Tellmygov.com is townhall meetings. These involve members and politicians, and just like an actual townhall meeting, members have the opportunity to ask a question and have a politician answer them via video feed.
Members can also upload their own video. If a member attends a political function, he or she can share the video of the function with all the members of tellmygov.com. Members can post polls to find out what members think about a particular subject, or vote in member posted polls.
In this modern age where everything can be found on the Internet, the site takes a compilation of the information available on politicians, laws, bills, and campaigns, Tellmygov.com puts it all together on one website to give a voice to all voters and inform the American people.
Jeannie Langston holds two masters degrees in English and Language Arts from Ashford University.
*Sponsored by TellMyGov.com.
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