Planning to vote in the U.S. next month? You might need to check out this app!
With less than three weeks left until Election Day, Americans are taking advantage of early voting options like never before. Google says that in the states, people are asking Google "How to Vote" in record-breaking numbers. And adding to the chaos, COVID-19 has voters looking for alternative ways to cast their ballots. The dynamics involved this year include a fired-up population with many willing to walk over broken glass to vote. The issues at stake are so important that we could see many first-time voters and others who haven't held a ballot in their hands in years go out and vote.
To make sure that people are going to the right place to vote, Google has made it easier for those in the states to find out how and where to vote. After all, just the other day fake drop boxes were discovered in California and were placed there by members of one of the two major political parties.
Starting today, when you go to Google Search and Maps looking for helpful information such as "early voting locations" or "ballot drop boxes near me", Google will point out locations where you can vote in person or return your mail-in ballot regardless of whether you're voting early or on Election Day. While Google can't tell you whom you should vote for, it can remind you that when you bring your mail-in ballot to a drop box, it should be completed and sealed.
Google also notes that soon you'll be able to ask Google Assistant, "Hey Google, where do I vote?" and receive the details on your Assistant enabled phone,, tablet, smart speaker, or smart display. And once you find out where you need to go to drop off a ballot or to vote, you can go from Google Search or Google Assistant to Google Maps for turn-by-turn directions taking you to your polling place.
The information comes to Google from the Voting Information Project, a partnership between Democracy Works, a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organization, and state election officials. Thanks to the partnership and other sources of information, Google has 200,000 different voting locations to pass along throughout the country.
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