Tusk Philanthropies, an organization in support of mobile voting, has launched an advertising campaign to pressure D.C. Council member Charles Allen, who chairs the council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, to hold a hearing on the Mobile VOTE Act.
The organization said its campaign will include billboards stressing a recent survey indicating that 70% of D.C. residents favor a mobile voting option. The billboards will urge Allen, Ward 6 Democrat, to listen to residents and hold a hearing.
The legislation allows residents to cast a ballot through their smartphones, tablets or personal computers.
The bill is sponsored by Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and has seven supporters on the council, the required number of votes for a bill to pass.
On Allen’s committee, three of the five members favor Pinto’s legislation, as does Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.
The Ward 8 Democrats and the District’s branch of the NAACP have gone on record supporting mobile voting, also.
What a wonder it would be to be able to use our secure smartphones to participate from anywhere. It would even be more interesting if we could evolve into a true democracy where decisions of import were put to the people and not under the influence of money that can drive a representative government to act for those with wealth and not the people they are supposed to represent.