This App Puts Congress In Your Pocket
Countable Returns Power To The People
In an era of hyper-partisan politics, pundits, and big money, it is easy to feel disenfranchised with the American political process. Hundreds of political action groups spend billions of dollars to influence Capitol Hill, leaving the average citizen left out of a system that is supposed to represent their interests. Today, a minuscule 7% of Americans have “a great deal” of confidence in Congress. The process is broken. Knowing the challenge, my cofounder and I began to explore how we could leverage technology to reignite passion for our legislative process in a way that would be accessible to all Americans.
As you know, technology has permeated every aspect of our lives. At airports and on subways, you see people consuming actionable information in bite sized pieces. Everyone loves to post news on Facebook and share every detail of their day on Twitter. We began to ask ourselves why people didn’t share that same passion for our political process. After all, congressional legislation has huge impacts on all of our lives. We realized that the current way official congressional information is disseminated is outdated, impersonal and impractical, especially for generations used to technology. We knew there had to be a better way.
We started Countable with a team of technology professionals to create a modern platform for users to interact with Congress and the legislative process. The goal behind this project is to inspire people to get involved and have their opinions heard. Countable makes following Congress as easy as checking the box score after a baseball game. The app and website make it possible to shift the political process from a spectator sport back in to the true representative democracy that America was always meant to be.
Countable makes following Congress as easy as checking the box score after a baseball game. — Tweet This!
Without Countable, bills coming up for a vote might filter into your daily life through the news. Unfortunately, news coverage is often biased and fails to highlight the issues that matter to you. Our app offers an organized and unbiased summary of every piece of legislation that is coming up for a vote in the House or the Senate. You can interact with the bills that matter the most to you, and quickly share your opinions with your elected representatives.
In addition to the bill’s summary on Countable, a section is dedicated to clearly describing arguments in favor and opposed to each piece of legislation. Countable updates in real-time to reflect issues that are important to you. Just recently there was legislation pending on some really big issues. A bill to give additional tax breaks for children (H.R. 4935), amending a visa program for guest workers (H.R. 4238) and even a bill to continue mail delivery on Saturdays (H.R. 5016) are all on the floor. These are just some of the over 60 pieces of legislation that are being debated in Congress that probably affect your life in some way.
Making legislation easily consumable is just the first step. With giant YEA or NAY buttons located above each bill, users can register their support or opposition with just a tap on the screen. Just like a scorecard, votes are stored so that a user can easily reference and follow legislation that matters to you.
Countable can help pry the bullhorn out of special interests hands and back into the hands of the American voter. — Tweet This!
As an advocacy tool, Countable is a game changer. Countable can help pry the bullhorn out of special interests hands and back into the hands of the American voter. Once a user selects their opinion on an issue, the app automatically generates customizable messages that can be sent to the respective congressional legislators and senators. Voters can personalize those messages with their own thoughts to express support or dissent for the issue. You can also compare your votes on the Countable site to how your Congressional representatives vote on the House or Senate floor.
More than just a non-partisan news source, the app brings the legislative process into the 21st century with robust social sharing. Before Countable, there was no easy way to share an actual bill on a news feed. Countable provides options to share the bill with friends on Facebook and Twitter. With just a tap of the Facebook or Twitter icon, friends and followers can see trending and important issues in Congress. It’s just one more way that Countable is changing the way Americans view legislation and interact with their elected representatives.
I couldn’t be more proud of my team and the finished product. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Countable has already been featured on Wired.com and the Today show, highlighted as one of Apple’s Best New Apps, and profiled in TechCrunch. I invite you to try it out and download our new app or visit us online. Get involved. Make your opinion count on Capitol Hill. Together we can begin to change our nation for the better by participating in the difficult decisions that will determine the direction of the country.
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Bart Myers(@bartolah) and Peter Arzhintar (@elbbirt) founded Countable in 2013.
