Hasta La Ideas

As anyone who has spent more than a few hours in any of the five boroughs can tell you, New Yorkers are not shy about expressing their opinions. But when election time rolls around, New York City residents are atypically passive. In the 2012 presidential elections, New York ranked 44th out of the 50 states in voter turnout. Voter engagement in municipal elections lags well behind other large cities.

At the same time, younger, digital-native voters are playing a larger, more active role in national politics—starting with President Barack Obama’s re-election last November. Looking to engage more connected New Yorkers in the political process, an historic public-private partnership has come together to build NYC Votes, a platform for driving voter engagement by improving the voter experience.

In a time when the public has come to expect sophisticated, easy-to-use, and on-demand digital experiences, more and more citizens are looking for the democratic process to keep pace. To that end, some of the leading design and technology firms in New York City joined forces to transform voting in New York City through the NYC Votes project. Working with the New York City Campaign Finance Board, which administers the city’s small-dollar public matching funds program, a team comprised of experience design firm Method, software development firm Pivotal Labs, and strategic consultancy Tipping Point Partners, set out to provide new pathways for voter engagement.

Creative Director at Method, Rusty Munro, stated: “We are excited about being a part of shaping the NYC Votes brand and providing people with a better experience for civic engagement. The system we have designed paves the way for a scalable platform around voting in New York, and potentially beyond.”

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