Apps make it easy to instantly snoop on the voting history of friends, family and strangers

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/04/us/politics/apps-public-voting-record.html

Did You Vote? Now Your Friends May Know (and Nag You)
By Natasha Singer
Nov. 4, 2018

My dentist, a registered Republican, did not vote in the last midterm elections, in 2014.

But the owner of my local bookstore, a registered Democrat, did vote then. So did my accountant, who is not registered with either party.

I know these details not because the dentist, the bookseller and the accountant volunteered to share their voting histories with me. I found out from VoteWithMe and OutVote, two new political apps that are trying to use peer pressure to get people to vote Tuesday.

The apps are to elections what Zillow is to real estate — services that pull public information from government records, repackage it for consumer viewing and make it available at the touch of a smartphone button. But instead of giving you a peek at house prices, VoteWithMe and OutVote let you snoop on which of your friends voted in past elections and their party affiliations — and then prod them to go to the polls by sending them scripted messages like “You gonna vote?”

“I don’t want this to come off like we’re shaming our friends into voting,” said Naseem Makiya, the chief executive of OutVote, a start-up in Boston. But, he said, “I think a lot of people might vote just because they’re frankly worried that their friends will find out if they didn’t.”

Whom Americans vote for is private. But other information in their state voter files is public information; depending on the state, it can include details like their name, address, phone number and party affiliation and when they voted. The apps try to match the people in your smartphone’s contacts to their voter files, then display some of those details.

The data’s increasing availability may surprise people receiving messages nudging them to vote — or even trouble them, by exposing personal politics they might have preferred to keep to themselves. Political campaigns have for years purchased voter files from states or bought national voter databases from data brokers, but the information has otherwise had little public exposure outside of campaign use. Now any app user can easily harness such data to make inferences about, and try to influence, their contacts’ voting behavior.

[MineralMan]

1. Public information is public.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

2. This may have it's benefits as described. How about paying people to vote? Tax break?

Based on the info they're shooting around the globe? I know it shouldn't have to be that way but, that's what motivates people. See the president. 2 of his kids did'nt even vote it was said, bc they hadn't registered in time. Could that possibly be?
I'd like a few more app's myself...1. Tells what millionaires pay in taxes? if they paid taxes? and what deductions they took?
Also, 2. I'd like an app that fact checks, in real time, a live youtube video of don ivans day job..you know...the ..'rallies'. Everyday.
Lastly, and 3. Could someone make an app that tells us how much money don spends everyday, w a break-out of what his kids and wife are spending/costing us? We need the info.
Just a thought...for apps in the coming months.
Has ANYONE here not voted??? Come onnnn. Hands up. If you didn't. Pull yourself away from the keyboard combat for an hour and go do it. That's all.

[Cerulean Southpaw]

3. I don't like this idea

Shaming people for not being registered to vote. Some people might not be allowed because they arent a citizen or they have a felony and they would rather not have people know about it. Now they either have to put up with people shaming them about not voting or they have to tell you things they want to keep private