Vision Statement
Social Networking and Politics: A New Approach
We have seen the power of social networking to support candidates and causes. Circle Voting is a new approach that is independent of any party or candidate.
The problem today is not a lack of information. There are many good sites that provide voter information. But they go unused because they require time, interest and knowledge. But we can help each other.
Our goal is to nurture connections between people that persist over many elections and consistently lead to more informed voting.
Our Three Principles
Principle 1: You may not know all the issues in an election, but you do know the people and groups around you who share your interests and perspective. Seeing them all together helps you quickly make an informed vote, one in your own best interest.
Principle 2: You can increase your own political impact, thus multiplying your vote, by making smart voting easy for the many like-minded people in your own Circle who don’t vote regularly for lack of time or interest in politics.
Principle 3: As each of us expands our own political impact, we are creating a smarter voting force that acts independently of such influences as corporate money or appeals to fear and anger.
Where We Are Now
We are starting with a few statewide races in California to get feedback to the ideas and to test the system. Please consider inviting others.
We will soon integrate with Twitter and then Facebook. We will eventually cover the state and local races on the ballot and make it easy for users to access their own sample ballot based on their geographic location. This could bring more informed voting to the lower levels of the ballot where many candidates are unknown.
Motivation for the User
We hope these immediate benefits of Circle Voting will encourage usage by:
- Empowering those with political interest to get more involved by multiplying their vote.
- Making it easier for people to vote in their best interest.
- Offering the possibility of real change in our political system.
More Immediate Benefits
As more people use Circle Voting, we are:
- Creating a source of information and opinion independent of the million dollar campaigns.
- Diffusing the power of fear and anger to polarize by making it easy to see different sides.
- Creating an easily accessible base of knowledge on local elections where there is very little.
- Developing connections to trusted sources that remain from election to election
Long Term Benefits
We think of each active user as a stone in water rippling in all directions leading to more informed voting and better leaders. So, join us for a moment in imagining Circle Voting catching on We would be part of a voting force that:
- Decreases the power of corporations and special interests to determine policy.
- Increases the turnout of informed voters in primaries and reduces the power of fear and anger to nominate polarizing candidates.
- Frees new candidates with ideas and vision from the continual demands of fundraising to be recognized.
- Lowers the impact of simplistic negative advertising..
- Evaluates officeholders by their merits – rather than giving them extra power to remain in office or getting rid of them in the periodic waves of “throwing the bums out.”