Bot the Vote

A new bot is being rolled out in an effort to get more people to the polls this year.

Called GoVoteBot, the bot is a joint effort of R/GA, for the Connected Age, and the Ad Council, the largest producer of public service campaigns in the U.S.

U.S. citizens will be able to chat with the bot on Facebook Messenger and ask if they are registered, find out where to register, and receive information about their polling place hours and location.

A non-partisan tool, GoVoteBot has no opinion on whom people vote for—only making sure that they have the tools they need to do so.

The groups point out that 43% of eligible U.S. voters did not vote in the 2012 general election, so more work is needed to get people to participate in the process.

But will a bot work? You see these things cropping up everywhere in the e-commerce world. They even give them cute names and human identities.

With so many bots out there taking the place of humans, it’s safe to say that at least some people are using them. Perhaps this will be a cost-effective way to boost voter participation.