“There oughta be a law,” but how does a regular citizen or small community group tell their elected representatives about the law or issue? A novel approach that is quicker than letter writing or trying to use official websites is available now. POPVOX is the answer for individuals or groups with a gripe that want to cut through the cacaphony in Washington D.C.
This is a new tool that is proud to be disruptive technology. The idea is that the POPVOX people know how to take the words and thoughts of frustrated regular people a.k.a. we citizens, and translates into the form that congressional aides and their bosses, our elected representatives will understand. They aggregate pro and con opinions, verify that you are an actual consitutent, and create a package the Congressmen are comfortable receiving.
You can easily search for any bill before congress. POPVOX bridges that gap between kind of knowing what the bill is about and actually reading the bill, so you don’t come off like an idiot — and all with a click or two. They are non-partisan, so when you check in with them, you can say what you want to say, and they’ll match you with like-minded others, and send Congress a summary of the results.
The idea is that you locate a bill, click “support” or “oppose”, POPVOX tracks the votes and let’s you see how sentiment is going on the bill, plus it let’s you add a personal note to your elected representatives.It “meshes legislative data with individuals’ personal stories and sentiment… [and] delivers public input to Congress in a format tailored to actionable policy decisions and empowers users to leverage their expertise and numbers.” POPVOX gets your opinion and vote past filters that check for “astroturfing” because it verifies your address. That step is what turns you from a nobody to a constituent in the eyes of your elected rep. Once you get verified, POPVOX remembers your information so the next time you want to weigh in on a bill, it takes even fewer clicks to do that.
POPVOX, a grand prize winners at this year’s SXSW Accelerator presented by Microsoft BizSpark, spreads word about what bills it is sharing with Congress, via social media as this example shows (click to enlarge the image.)
If you work with a community group that has a website, POPVOX has introduced a “Write Congress” widget you can use on your site around specific issues and bills.
Why wait when you can reach out and be in touch with POPVOX and get your voice heard in the noisy din of lobbyists and political rhetoric out there today.
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