Perhaps one of the most important elections this country has ever seen is right around the corner, but many people still don't know the details they need to cast an informed vote.
It's not necessarily their fault. Some voting information can be very hard to find, especially when it comes to knowing the political stance of a recalled judge or what a particular new amendment might mean in daily life. There's an app called MyBallot AI that's trying to help with this, in a very Silicon Valley way. This is an interactive mobile platform designed to make voting information more accessible.
Users simply type what they want to know about the upcoming election into the chat box and get real-time answers to their questions.
The app was founded by Mark Lerman and launched to the public on Friday. It is powered by Google Gemini and retrieves data from the Google Civic API and BallotReady API. A slightly more notable feature is that the app reveals the source when responding to information, perhaps as a way to avoid plagiarism accusations that plague other chatbots.
MyBallot also allows users to fill out a sample ballot to familiarize themselves with the wording of the ballot. Rahman said he hired a developer in February and said, “We feel really lucky to finally have it ready in time for the election.”
This app comes at a critical time. Concerns about misinformation remain among voters in this election, with Elon Musk in particular causing a stir among election officials. CNN reports that states are conducting fact checks to prevent billionaires from spreading claims that “mislead voters.” Meanwhile, Axios reported that Facebook users are being fooled by AI images of fake people voicing their support, and a flood of AI-generated content, including video and audio, is taking hold on the internet. All of this, combined with the fact that search engines are deprioritizing news, makes it difficult for the average voter to find reliable information about voting.
Mark Lerman, founder of MyBallot AI, said: Image credit: Provided by Mark Lerman
Rahman says he's wanted to create an app like this since the 2020 election. He spent time that year protesting the killing of George Floyd and recalled that when he found himself at the polling place, he couldn't recognize the judge even when he looked at his ballot.
“I was protesting outside, and when it came time to vote, we didn't even know which of the judges was for us and which was against us,” he said.
He spent the next three years thinking about creating a product that could effectively educate voters. When access to artificial intelligence was democratized, he took the opportunity to start building MyBallot AI. He is currently in the midst of raising funds and working on his day job while building the app.
“It's especially important right now that this app exists as a verifiable, unbiased source of information,” he continued, adding that voters feel like current news is biased. “If people were less ignorant and knew more about the issues and candidates they were voting for, rather than just voting for a team, they would feel less cheated and lied to. ”
Many young people are going to vote for the first time. Efforts are made every election to attract younger voters, who are less likely to vote than older people. Tufts estimates that 50% of young people (defined as ages 18 to 29) voted in presidential elections in 2020, up from 39% in 2016.
Pointing out that young people are very active in politics, Rahman believes that young people will come out in this election, “but on the other hand, they are going to use the existing un-user-friendly web.'' You may be the least likely to make the effort to navigate the site.''You want to know about your state or local elections, but the thought of reading a 100-page voting manual sent to your home is overwhelming. I'm not interested. ”
MyBallot is currently available anywhere in the United States, with plans to expand to other countries soon.
Rahman has other big plans for the app. He aims to build a networking component so users can ask questions directly to candidates. He plans to begin contacting representatives after the presidential election, just in time for the midterm elections. To increase engagement, Rahman hopes to add political quizzes to help with ballot recommendations and work with organizations and universities to reach even more voters.
“We want people to trust this tool as a tool that doesn't necessarily care what you're thinking, it just wants you to think,” he says.