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Googling Virginia's Vote

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, October 22 2009

The Google Voting Information Project, an effort we've geeked out over in the past for its attempt to organize election information in a way most useful to citizens, is rolling out a widgety thing on the occasion of the November 3rd election in Virginia where the governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general's seats are up for grabs.

Try out the Google Voting Information Project widget for Virginia here:

Find your 2009 voter information. Enter the home address where you are registered to vote:


In the United States, where you vote and how you vote is information kept on the state, county, city, and town level -- the strata at which American elections really act themselves out. What the Google VIP team of Google itself, the New Organizing Institute, and the Pew Center on the States are attempting to do is to create an open data format and nudging each voting authority to publish their information in it, which opens up the opportunity to let local election folks their thing while at the same time making elections in the U.S. work better on a grander scale. The Google VIP Virginia widget, for example, blends what the Virginia State Board of Elections knows with Google Maps-powered driving directions.

Grab your customizable Voting Information Project widget code here.

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