BallotNav is a project of Hack for LA. Hack for LA is a brigade of a Code for America that exists to connect citizens with civic rights and responsibilities. BallotNav helps those who are concerned about using USPS for their mail-in ballots find their local drop-off points and their available days/times. The app's main features include locating the drop-off points closest to the user, and displaying what dates and times they are available; pulling in this information as it becomes available from county election supervisors; and connecting with users' social accounts to encourage dissemination of the tool and information.
Voters in the upcoming presidential election are caught between a rock and a hard place: voting at the polls carries the possibility of covid-19 infection, while at the same time, the USPS is in crisis and our Constitutionally-protcted right to reliable mail is insecure. Mail-in ballots may be securely dropped-off in person; however, the locations do not neccesarily correspond to polling places, drop-offs may need to be made on specific dates and times under varying conditions to be valid, and this information can be hard to locate. Additionally, in many cases when this information will become available is not known. A centralized, specific tool for locating this information may assist in maintaining the franchise for some individuals who might either give up in frustration, or run the risk of their vote being uncounted due to mail failures.
How is Voting Related to the Social Safety Net?
Data Scientists and Community Data Monitors Needed Join Now
This guide will help get you up to speed on what you need to know to get started as a project team member. Let's go!
- Read Project Context and More Information (above)
- Join the #BallotNav slack channel and introduce yourself.
- Slack our PMs Randall Ellis or Karen Coronel with your email address.
- Accept your Google Drive invite to access the shared folder.
- Add yourself to the Team Roster. Then, Slack our PM with "Added to Roster".
- Enable Two Factor Authentication on your Github Account
- Read project details and review our Project Management Board
- Weekly team meetings will be Saturdays 5PM - 6PM, Tuesdays 6PM - 8PM, & Thursdays 5:30PM - 7:30PM (all times PDT)
Please contact Mya Stark (myastark@gmail.com) for more information