October 26, 2008 by Matt Thomas
As the big day draws ever closer, Google is continuing its involvement in the US presidential election with a new web site that will help voters find their nearest polling places on election day. It is thought that this system will encourage voters who might have stayed away from the polls because they didn’t know where to vote.
Google took the project on after noticing a huge number of searches for local polling places during the 2004 elections and this year’s primaries. The site works simply, all would-be voters have to do is type in their address and press ‘search,’ they are then presented with a map (the system utilises the Google Maps platform) showing them the nearest polling stations to them.
Producing a resource like this might traditionally be seen as the government’s job, though no resource of the kind exists on any government run website. “It’s hard to believe that in 2008, information so important to U.S. citizens and the democratic process isn’t well organized on the Web,” said J.L Needham, a Google team member connected with the project. Whilst there was no direct government involvement, the project was produced in conjunction with the Voting Information Project and the League of Women Voters, as well as state and local election officials.
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