This solution starter was created by technologists from IBM.
American History has shown that voter suppression has led to corruption and a weak democracy that does not reflect the will of the people. Voting has been perceived an intangible and unfair process based on restrictive local processes, changing requirements, regulations, an inability to access the correct voting location, and a lack of information. As a result, millions of minorities, especially Black people, have had their votes go uncounted, purged, or simply not submitted due to lack of faith and trust in the system.
The Five Fifths Voter solution starter focuses on addressing the key areas of voter suppression such as voter registration, voter ID laws, voter registration restrictions, voter purging, felony disenfranchisement, and gerrymandering all of which are contributors to disenfranchising minorities and people with disabilities. The solution helps with these challenges by providing a capability to help ensure disenfranchised minority voters are educated, empowered, and enabled to overcome setbacks incurred by voter suppression. Five Fifths Voter helps to identify the correct polling stations, notifies users of requirements needed for their state, and personal circumstances as it pertains to different types of voting, deadlines, and quick access to information.
The solution starter is provided as a web-based application that’s hosted on IBM Cloud and is available for both desktop and mobile browsers.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted to prohibit racial discrimination in voting. Yet, history has shown the inequalities such as voter suppression have led to corruption and a weak democracy that does not reflect the will of the people.
The IBM Call for Code for Policy & Legislation Reform has developed a solution to support the voter experience that focuses on addressing key areas of voter suppression such as voter registration, voter ID laws, voter registration restrictions, voter purging, felony disenfranchisement, and gerrymandering, all of which are contributors to disenfranchising minorities and people with disabilities.
Five Fifths Voter is a cognitive solution designed to determine optimal voting strategies for each individual voter while limiting the impact of previous suppression issues.
See the Getting Started document.
See the User Guide document.
Please read the CONTRIBUTING guidelines
See the issues list for a full list of items that are currently being worked in the Five Fifths Voter project. Issues marked as "top priority" must be considered first.
For details, see Five Fifths Technology Summary.