What is ‘Civic Engagement’?
New Phone2Action voter tool can show you better than I can tell you.
Today we launched the Civic Action Center, a powerful tool for mobilizing voters that will change the way you prepare for elections.
What is ‘Civic Engagement’?
Four years ago, when we launched our civic engagement tech company, this was the question on the minds of many investors and initial partners. Like many entrepreneurs, we had trouble initially just defining the work we had begun doing. On top of that, we were the first to create a comprehensive social platform and the newest entrants into a budding ‘industry’ that had also yet to assume a cohesive identity. But we knew there was a huge need, because we had firsthand experience with the challenges that arise when engaging with elected officials. Time and again, we were asked this question, “so what, exactly, is ‘civic tech’?”
Fast-forward to 2016, and we are still part of an industry struggling to define itself. To some, the phrase means organizing neighborhood rallies or protests; pressuring local governments to address everyday issues — potholes, trash pickup, local parks, and the like; to others, it’s about sharing one’s perspective on the most important issues facing our world amongst one’s friends but in a global sphere; and to some, enabling online debates and citizen ‘voting’ on legislative issues. Each category now has a whole suite of apps, widgets, platforms, and tools buzzing and dinging and vying to grab and keep your attention, to varying degrees of success. To the Phone2Action team, ‘civic engagement’ means connecting ordinary citizens with those who have been elected to represent them in government. We believe that constituents’ voices are important and powerful, and that must be connected with our elected decision makers to guide them and hold them accountable. Today, our tools help to engage entirely new groups of people with the legislative process; people who never before believed their voice could make a difference in government. Thus, much of our focus is typically on what happens after Election Day — on keeping citizens engaged with lawmakers more than just once every four years. If you’ve spent any time in politics, you know how much of a challenge this can be. We’ve relentlessly researched, connected, designed, written code, and ultimately assembled a team and a set of tools of our own that advance this mission.
But in such a pivotal election year, we feel the importance of empowering people to make informed decisions that, now especially, will have a great impact on their lives for years to come. We crafted the Phone2Action Civic Action Center with this in mind.
- Gather information from disparate sources into one place
- Present it in an simple, straightforward format
- Give the public tools to become informed citizens and informed voters this fall.
“To the Phone2Action team, ‘civic engagement’ means connecting ordinary citizens with those who have been elected to represent them in government.”
The new Get Out the Vote Toolkit gives you the ability to:
- Check whether they’re registered to vote
- Register to vote if they’re not
- Preview the candidates and officials who will appear on their ballot
- Find their polling places and receive an automatic text reminder on Election Day
- Request an absentee ballot or find out how to vote early, and more, all in one place, and all mobile-friendly.
You may have seen similar tools, but the Get out the Vote Toolkit does more than display polling locations—it furthers the civic engagement efforts of any organization or individual committed to making meaningful change and strengthen democracy for all.
We’re already working with dozens of our partners to deploy the Civic Action Center far and wide, and we hope you’ll take part as well. We’re joined by the Consumer Technology Association, American Bankers Association, Washington D.C. Office of Latino Affairs, and National Association of Manufacturers, to name a few.
So try out the tool, make sure you’re registered, preview your ballot, and find your polling place. The easiest way to do that is through our tool. Check it out, share it with your friends, and most importantly, show up to vote on November 8.
