One of my main goals as Georgia’s Secretary of State has been to increase efficiencies and decrease costs by using technology.
Of all of the innovations that the office has made over the years, I could not be more proud of the state’s ability to offer online voter registration and the My Voter Page (MVP) mobile app. These tools truly accomplish both goals.
Recently, I had the opportunity to share this with citizens all over Georgia. I was most struck by one particular encounter.
At the Savannah Armory, I visited with members of our National Guard and talked to them about Georgia’s new online voter registration system and MVP app for mobile devices. It was one of the most positive experiences I have had since I began serving as Georgia’s Secretary of State in 2010. We had a great dialogue about the challenges of military voting. One young man told me that he always wonders whether his vote really counts.
This is exactly why the team at the office of the Secretary of State has been working diligently for months to implement our MVP mobile application. Now that young man in Savannah will be able to track his ballot from the time he sends it, until it is cast by his local elections board. He also does not need to be in front of a computer screen; he can do it from his iPhone.
When he saw the new innovation on the app, he said, “Now I am going to vote all the time!”
This is one of the many new features in the MVP app.
Are you sure who is running for what office? Georgia voters can view sample ballots that are specific to them. They can see a qualified list of candidates.
Are you having trouble locating your polling place? The MVP app not only tells you where it is, but it gives you directions how to get there.
Don’t have time to vote on Election Day? You can use your phone to locate early voting locations in your county.
Did you cast a provisional ballot and want to check the status? You can check on that while you are sitting in the parking lot at the grocery store.
Have you recently moved and just can’t find time to go by a library or post office to get a form to change your voter registration address? No worries. You can use your phone to update your voter registration.
Can’t get your teenager to sit down and fill out a voter registration form? They can do it between Angry Birds games on their Samsung tablet.
I want to encourage all Georgians to take advantage of this technology by visiting www.sos.ga.gov or search “GA votes” in the app store for your Android or Apple mobile device.
As Georgia’s Secretary of State, I am proud to say, there’s an app for that.
Brian Kemp is Georgia's secretary of state.
