We wanted to repost this interesting post that we first found on the Gov 2.0 Watch blog that NCDD organizational member the Davenport Institute runs. With the announcement that the 2016 Iowa caucuses will integrate mobile technology, it appears party politics may be catching up with some of the D&D field in terms of civic tech. Check out the post below or find the original here.

21st Century Caucuses

The Iowa Caucuses are always of the highlights of any presidential campaign.  There is a sense of deeper, beyond-the-ballot-box engagement that can feel like a healthy dose of old-fashioned democracy.  But this year the caucuses will incorporate technology.  Planners hope to offer an example of how new technology can be incorporated into traditional experiences:

Tallying results from the Iowa presidential caucuses will rely on mobile technology for the first time in 2016. The Democratic and Republican parties and Microsoft jointly announced that apps are being developed for each party that will tabulate precinct results, verify them, and quickly make them publicly available.

“The caucus results will be delivered via this new mobile-enabled, cloud-based platform that will help facilitate these accurate and timely results,” says Dan’l Lewin, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Technology and Civic Engagement.

You can read more and see a demonstration of the technology here.

Roshan Bliss

An inclusiveness trainer and group process facilitator, Roshan Bliss serves as NCDD's Youth Engagement Coordinator and Blog Curator. Combining his belief that decisions are better when everyone is involved with his passion for empowering young people, his work focuses on increasing the involvement of youth and students in public conversations.

Tags: civic infrastructure, current issues, decision making, online & hi-tech, public participation

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