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technoratiTechnology and the Internet are changing democracy in America. Personal Democracy Forum is a hub for the exciting conversation underway between political professionals, technologists, and anyone else invigorated by the remarkable potential of technology to engage citizens in the democratic process.
In what I view as the first serious use of mobile technology in an American election (Edwards, Ford and Schwarzenegger have the technology but have really not used it to any great extent) , Green Independent candidate for Governor Pat LaMarche has launched a major mobile campaign a week before the election. Pat has already gained a reputation for technological innovation in Maine for her Online Town Hall and a Website that the Library Of Congress has already designated as a "historic " site worth preserving in the federal archives. The mobile part of her campaign officially launches today in a very interesting way. As of this morning students and citizens of Maine will be ask to text the word "Pat" and a topic (example: Pat Health Care) to the shotcode 30644. Later today Pat will be speaking at the University of Maine in Orono where her speech will be based on the top three topics that students and Maine citizens send to her via text message. Very interactive, very neat.
Pat also will also be using her skill as a professional Radio personality to receive questions via text message in upcoming radio interviews throughout the week.
Of course, sending a topic or question to the shotcode will send a text message back to user asking them to opt in to what the campaign is calling "Pats Immediate Response Team" the purpose of which is to send out the latest insider news, call to actions, campaign ringtones and tips on how you can help Pat win.
Opting into the text message also signs you up to receive important Get Out The Vote reminders on the day of the election (of which will include information on where to go to vote). The text will also ask users to send a text message to at least 5 people reminding them to go vote.
Of course, users can just text the word "Pat" to 30644 if all they want to do is opt in for the Immediate Response Team.
The mobile part of the campaign is aimed mostly at Maines young voters and as of the press release last night they have already have 135 people signed up.
In the interest of disclosure I am the mobile director for this campaign in cooperation with Rights-Group
Technorati Tags: maine, pat lamarche, rights group, sms, text messaging
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Input v. Output
Pretty cool. I think what makes this innovative is the use of text messaging to receive input from constituents, rather than simply pushing a message to them. The campaign I'm working for (Question 7 in Nevada, the Regulation of Marijuana Amendment, http://www.regulatemarijuana.org) has already sent out 5,000 text messages to supporters, 3,000 of which gave the closest early vote location for that day. I've thought about ways to involve receiving messages from voters, but an initiative campaign is very different than a candidate one. In any case, thanks for pointing out this campaign.