OUR VOTE
Representative Democracy. Live
Building a better democracy
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"government of the people, by the people, for the people".
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Abraham Lincoln's famous phrase reminds us that, in representative democracies, our politicians are not intended to be our bosses, chiefs, or even our leaders.
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They are our fellow citizens, who:
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must understand the beliefs of their electorate, and then
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represent those beliefs in wider parliaments, on each vote, throughout their elected term.
Our Problem
There is no way for citizens, journalists, or politicians to understand electoral beliefs
on each issue.
This makes true representation, and accountability on each vote, impossible.
Our Vision
A world of vibrant, participatory,
and accountable,
representative democracies;
enabled by public access to the live data on the ethics, and opinions, of each
voting electorate.
Our Mission
Build a digital platform to record, and display, the civic opinions of each electorate; enabling elected officials to be held accountable, for appropriate representation, by both citizens and the media.
Our Values
We are and always will be:
Transparent
Inclusive
Collaborative
Informed
Objective
Iterative
Fun.
OurVote Platform Capabilities
For OurVote to deliver a better democracy, we need to develop several core capabilities:
Protect identity & data
Anonymous:
All citizens must have the confidence to engage and share their honest beliefs, without fear of being shamed.
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Easy to Use:
You will have a permanent profile, allowing you to interact in any way, as and when you choose.
Durable:
You can change any opinion,
but you will never need to answer ethical opinions
more than once.
Enable surveys & feedback
Search your interests:
Search and share on any topic that you believe needs change.
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Outline your Ethics:
You will have to ability to
share your ethics on various topics (i.e. should all people have equal access to equal healthcare?)
Give feedback:
You will be able to rate government performance on any service and be encouraged to dive deeper with 'topic of the month'.
Create clear analytics
Compare yourself to others:
You will have to ability to see how your opinion compares to others, including electorates, age groups, gender and more (if enough people have responded to be
statistically accurate).
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Compare yourself to the Law:
Once you have completed your ethical profile, you will be able to see how your views compare to the law, allowing you to learn what you'd like to see change.​
Enable communication
Set their top priorities:
Politicians will be able to see areas their electorate want action on and have the ability to commit to driving change in those areas.
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Guide Voting:
The platform will categorise
all proposed laws, showing what the electorate wants from their representative (where data is available).​
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This will enable them to vote accordingly.
Enable electoral oversight
Review Voting Record:
Each Representative's voting record will be available and assessed with coloured flags (green, yellow, red
or grey (no citizen data)).
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Voting Explained:
Representatives will be able to explain each vote, which will be especially relevant for red flags.
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Elections:
Candidates can choose to commit to using Our Vote, influencing voter choices.
We need your skills!
Democracies that are truly equitable require active and diverse participation.
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We believe in creating the ability for all people to contribute the Our Vote platform, especially as this is a non-profit, community-based, movement.
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If you have special skills, especially in IT, UX/UI, Data Science, Analytics, Law, Accounting, Marketing and many more, please click below to sign up to a working group that is helping make Our Vote better.
Are you a politician?
Elected Representatives are the most important users of the OurVote platform because they are the ones delegated to enact the will of the people.
Our Vote will enable representatives to see which issues are important to their community, helping them to create appropriate initiatives, and to cast votes aligned to the desires of their electorate.
Importantly, the platform will ensure each Representative can explain each vote they make, as part of their publicly available voting record, allowing citizens to review and assess performance.
About Us
Everyone involved in Our Vote is a citizen, like you, who believes in a more transparent, fair, and representative democracy - bridging the gap between the wants of the people and the actions of our elected officials.
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We believe all citizens have the right to anonymously record their beliefs and see what each electorate collectively believes, on each major issue.
We also believe elected officials, as representatives, are responsible for voting in accordance with the will of their electorate, and that citizens have the right to know when this is not happening.
