In the next week or so, voters in the State of Washington will be able to register to vote via Facebook. How does it work?
He explained that Washington hopes to make it as easy as possible for voters to register. Between March 2010 and March 2011, 60 percent of Washington voters who registered online were 18-34 years old. Since 2008, more than 475,000 new registrations or updated information have been processed.
“Your information is coming to us from Facebook but you can do that without leaving Facebook,” he added.
“Your name and date of birth are pulled from Facebook profile, then it operates exactly as it does if you’re not in Facebook. Our state database checks to see if you’re already registered. If you are, it will take you to MyVote service, [where] you can update registration information. You also need a Washington state ID or driver’s license. We do another real-time check to match that this is a real person who is registering.”
And it saves the state money too!
But it *is* Facebook, notoriously cavalier about your data, your privacy and your experience with their software. So what do you think? A good idea or would you stay away?