A Renewal of Democracy is Coming!
A new opportunity is on the horizon — one that promises to change the way we think about voting, and in the process, renew our faith in the power of real democracy, and our own ability to make a real difference, from our local community to our national community.
A simple innovation: Advisory Voting
Advisory Voting will be a way for registered voters to access their own, secure, online Advisory Voting Account, to learn about important issues affecting us all, and then to vote their priorities and preferences.
Not just on election day, but throughout the year, in-between elections.
While Advisory Votes will have no binding legal force (as in “direct democracy”), they will nonetheless be verifiably counted, actual votes by authenticated registered voters, about issues instead of candidates.
Immediate Benefits
Online advisory votes will be real, transparently verifiable votes, by authenticated U.S. registered voters, in a completely non-partisan, non-corporate, non-governmental environment. It will be operated by a not-for-profit public trust (The Advisory Vote Foundation, a 501c-3 has been created for this purpose) pledged to maintaining the integrity of its operation.
Advisory votes will provide our elected representatives with ongoing public input on the issues that affect us all — the very issues they were elected to represent us on, locally, regionally and nationally;
Advisory voting will provide opportunities for civic engagement of registered voters in-between elections (every day of the year), on the themselves issues ;
An advisory voting system will present advisory voters with factually-vetted educational videos and other information about the issues being considered, prior to voting. Factual accuracy will be verified by non-partisan educational resource organizations such as respected colleges and universities;
Advisory Voting will eliminate the opportunity for partisanship and tribalism, because no user data whatsoever will be collected about the registered voters casting advisory votes, other than their certification as bona-fide registered voters, and the ZIP code where these voters live (useful in providing an overview of the distribution of votes across a given geographical territory).
Advisory Voting will be easy — A virtual voting booth as close as the mobile device in a pocket or purse, any computer at home, office or library.
Banking-Level Security
The same banking-level security protocols that has given the world confidence in online financial transactions across the globe, will be at work with Advisory Voting, even at the local level. And because the advisory voting system will not be a social network, there will be a much simpler architecture and operation to protect. With banking-level security and the simplicity of its design and function, it will be free from fake voters, bots, trolls, combative discussion threads, voter suppression and gerrymandering, as well as disinformation campaigns. It will operate in the protected space of a “walled garden” for integrity.
The Public Trust administering the Advisory Voting system will operate transparently, for public benefit, consistent with its published Mission Statement and Operating Principles.
The Inevitable Evolution of Democracy
The Founders of the country could never have imagined the modern world in which we live. Innovations like the Internet, modern computing, and digital devices would have been unimaginable as they established the structures and institutions that have served as the foundations of our democracy almost 250 years ago. But they also made clear, in the very first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, that Freedom of Speech and Assembly are the cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
We can now take advantage of those freedoms and extend them online, in order to enable our individual votes and a coherent, collective voice of We the People, in a powerful and new way. This will support our elected representatives, regardless of party, by providing them with a verifiably accurate measure of public sentiment, from national to local levels, on the issues themselves, right down to the ZIP code.
This continually updated mirror of citizen sentiment will provide an unequaled reference point for discussion among voters, pundits, news media, educators, students, analysts, and others around the world who witness this new form of voting.
The capabilities that traditionally come with a “vote” will be expanded, and made available in a far more secure and effective manner than what we’ve become accustomed to in general elections. It will also incentivize merely eligible voters to become officially registered voters, in order to participate in advisory votes, in-between elections. This simple expansion of the basic applicability of a registered “vote” will upgrade our democratic process in very meaningful ways.
As most registered voters eventually become registered “advisory voters” as well, it will stand as an effective counter-balance to the corrupting influence of big money in politics, and will eventually demonstrate the real power of civic engagement “at scale.”
Pre-register NOW
For Your Advisory Voting Account
Your Vote. Our Voice.
Advisory Voting
Virtual Country: the book