Circle Voting Technology

Easily share and investigate opinions about how to vote.

Circle of Advisers

Create a circle of trusted advisers whose political opinions you value. Choose to follow your friends, your favorite bloggers or tweeters, public experts, newspapers and other organizations.

Your Ballot

We summarize the choices of your circle for each race on your next ballot, from Governor to dog catcher. Use it when you vote.

Explore the Issues

Investigate a race more deeply with opinions and discussion from your advisers. Put in as much time as you want, when you want it.

Multiply Your Vote

You are connected to many who share your views about the issues but don’t regularly vote. Enter your choices for any race we cover and watch your influence grow.

Go Public – Or Not

Your opinions are yours alone. You control whether your opinions are private, shared with friends you choose, or open to all.

Get Out Your Vote

Even in 2008, the highest turnout in forty years, only 62% actually voted. Only 18% of those 18-24 voted. You can make a big difference by getting your friends to vote. After the election, we’ll tell you how many you actually brought to the polls.

Circle Voting applies the tools of social networking to voting, making it easy and convenient to vote in our best interests.

In the past decade social networking and participatory websites have transformed the ways we communicate and share with each other. Circle Voting takes advantage of these changes to improve our democracy. Using our existing social networks, Circle Voting will increase voter turnout and dramatically decrease the work it takes to vote smart.

The Problem of Non-Participation

While most people may care a lot about jobs, taxes, the environment and their children, many don’t vote effectively on the issues that affect them.

  • Large numbers don’t vote. Even in November 2008, only 62% of those eligible voted, and this was the highest turnout in 40 years. Some primaries get less than 10% of the vote.
  • People feel they lack the time or information to vote wisely. In October 2006, the Pew Center found that 76% of the American people feel they don’t know enough about the candidates to vote. And in 2006 most of those people didn’t vote.
  • Non-voters really vote for the winner. Because a non-vote cannot change the outcome, it is effectively divided in proportion to the rest of the votes. Thus non-voting is always a vote for the winner, who may or may not best serve that citizen's interests.

Creating a Better, Smarter Government

As the number of people voting in their best interests grows, heavily-funded campaigns and short television ads may lose their dominance in the political sphere. This will mean that:

  • Politicians will be less beholden to corporate interests.
  • They will take more nuanced stands on the issues without fear of being destroyed by simplistic negative campaigns.
  • New candidates without ties to lobbyists will emerge to present more effective solutions to the problems that face our country.
  • Politicians will feel greater pressure to solve long standing problems rather than posturing.

We believe Circle Voting is an idea whose time has come.

Murray Edelman
Visionary

Jesse Sanford
Technologist

Chris Sinton
Businessman

Here are a couple ways to learn more.

Conceptual Prospectus

Please feel free to peruse this PDF wherein we explore the Circle Voting concept in greater detail.

Get in Touch

We welcome you to email us for more information at info@circlevoting.com.