Everyone who knows me knows how much I think we need to be involved in the political realm, as it ties in with everything else in existence. Every decision is political in some way, from the point you are a tiny clump of cells to long after our deaths, whether you like that thought or not. Not voting or not being an active citizen is an abdication of your responsibility to yourself, those you love, to our town, and to the Republic.
Voting is a big part of civic participation, but knowing what decisions are being made, and by what people, is just as important. Being able to see what is spin and what is true is equally necessary in the world today. It is not simple. Nothing in life worth doing is easy.
Now that we are in the digital age it is a little less complicated to pull those threads together and make decisions based on what you are able to find out. I’ve included several apps and sites below to help with various parts of your civic responsibility. They focus mainly on voting and tracking of elected national figures and national decision making, but the bulk of your responsibility is not at the national level. Your participation and votes make even more impact at the state and local level. To start you off , the first step is getting information for local level civic engagement.
Most towns have websites. Use them to track town the town departments, town boards, and to access your the town clerk office. The school boards often have separate sites and town boards and school boards often stream meetings and of course every meeting has a transcript, which has to be published publicly. they aren't as good as being there, but they can help you keep track of what is going on in your town.
The next step is the keep track of what is going on in Concord. At the state level there are many sources of information online, but I'm going to provide the most important below to get you started.
Access & Track Bills & Voting Records - NH General Court Site
Find Your NH Representatives: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/wml.aspx
Find Your NH Senator: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/Senate/members/wml.aspx
Find Your Executive Councilor: https://www.nh.gov/council/
NH General Court Website: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/
Find Your NH Representatives: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/wml.aspx
Find Your NH Senator: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/Senate/members/wml.aspx
Find Your Executive Councilor: https://www.nh.gov/council/
NH General Court Website: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/
Citizen engagement and voter turn out are at abysmal lows, especially when you compare them to the highs of the twentieth century. When the United States of America started the only people who could participate in society and had a vote were wealthy, white, male landowners. That’s it. That’s the limited vision we had then. A very small group of people deciding the fate of everyone, without representation.
By the time I was born, in the last half of the twentieth century, many, long and hard fights had been waged pulling down barriers to voting, expanding the ability to participate in government and granting the right to vote to all women, every race, and even more young people. Most of that happened in a single century, the time of a single person’s life.
Please vote on November 6th. Please vote in every election. Please stay up to date on each town meeting in or council meeting. Please please go to to each school deliberative session or keep track of your school board. Watch your legislators and governor. The people you are waiting for to bring forth new ideas, to speak up, “clean up the downtown,” “fix things,” “change boards,” or “vote them out,” are you.
Democracy Works Turbo Vote
TurboVote is an application that makes voting easy.We make it easy to register and request absentee ballots. We help you remember everything (about voting, at least).
https://www.democracy.works/tools-for-voters
The Sunlight Foundation's Congress App
Keep on top of Congress. * Find your representatives, see how they vote * See what bills are coming up for a vote next * Search for bills and votes you should know about * Stay on top of floor activity, committee hearings * Be notified of just about everything Notes for those interested in permissions or analytics: * The app makes phone calls only when you tap the "Call" button for a member of Congress. * We collect anonymous app usage statistics by default. To opt out: from the main screen, tap the menu on the top right, tap Settings, then uncheck "Allow Analytics". This app is proudly open source: https://github.com/konklone/congress-android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sunlightlabs.android.congress&hl=en
Votespotter App
VoteSpotter is a mobile app that connects you to your representatives.
Get alerts when they vote, then tell them what you think. It's never been easier to make your voice heard. https://votespotter.com/Countable App -Your government, made simple.
Get clear, concise summaries of bills going through Congress, see what others think, then take action. Telling your reps how you feel is easier than ever with email and now video messages. Make your democracy more responsive!
https://www.countable.us/
OutVote App
Friends don't let friends not vote.
Outvote is an app for getting your friends to vote. Outvote exists because your friends don't vote. Most of them want to, but they don't. They get busy. It's hard to make time. Friends that get reminders are twice as likely to vote. Outvote makes it easy to remind your friends to register and vote.
https://www.outvote.io/