Social media, tech firms use sites to urge U.S. citizens
to vote
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[November 02, 2018]
By Joseph Menn
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Criticized by
lawmakers and others for being unable or unwilling to stop false and
inflammatory information about divisive political issues, social media
and tech companies say they are doing more to boost voter turnout for
next Tuesday's U.S. congressional elections.
Snap Inc, Facebook Inc and other firms will remind users to vote and
link to a nonprofit guide for identifying the correct polling place,
ballot items and hours.
The involvement of sites that appeal to younger users is encouraging to
some democracy advocates, who worry about lower electoral participation
by younger voters.
Only about 17 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted in the previous
congressional elections in 2014, though some opinion polls say the
proportion could be much higher this year.
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Democrats are generally favored to win the 23 seats they need to wrest
the majority from Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, an
advantage they could use to block President Donald Trump's agenda of
hardline immigration policy and other Republican positions that are
anathema to Democrats.
Republicans have a stronger chance of keeping control of the Senate,
according to opinion polls and nonpartisan forecasters.
Santa Monica, California-based Snap on Thursday said it would send a
rare blast message to all of its U.S. users on election day, Nov. 6. The
message will include the link to poll location information. Snap
typically sends such messages only on holidays.
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![](../images/110218pics/2018-11-02T111524Z_2_LYNXNPEEA102U_RTROPTP_4_APPLE-DATA_small.JPG)
Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an
Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1,
2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
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The company's Snap Maps feature, which shows locations of users who opt in and
locations of special activity, will also link to polling location data.
It will be the first time that the feature, which had 100 million monthly users
in February, contains a link to an outside service, Gettothepolls.com, which
draws its material from state officials.
Mike Ward, program director of TurboVote, the nonprofit project working with the
big tech companies and the states, welcomed the map feature. A previous Snap
effort to steer users to registration information, including online applications
in the more than 30 states that offer them, drew 400,000 people.
Facebook and Spotify will also display the Gettothepolls.com link. Facebook and
other social media will also prompt people to signal to their friends when
they've voted, which Ward said is effective.
Car service company Lyft said it will offer free rides through a number of
nonprofits, including the League of Women Voters. Rival Uber last week
simplified its procedure for offering free or discounted rides, directly
knocking $10 off the cheapest version of its ride-hailing service.
(Reporting by Joseph Menn; editing by Grant McCool)
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