Google Gets Into Politics With Civic Info API

mikejuk writes "The new Google Civic Information API can be used to look up comprehensive voting information for particular addresses in the U.S. such as the polling place, early vote sites, contests, and local election official contact information. At the moment the API is limited to voting information for elections in the U.S., but Google plans to expand the support to cover other countries and include other types of civic information. Google plans to use the API to power their own election tools, including an embeddable app anyone can use on their site."

Comments

Re:So the google gay marriage campaign...?

[Samantha Wright]

Considering how many robocall campaigns have been unleashed on Americans during the past few elections to purposefully mislead groups of voters about where polling stations are, this is a pretty important service. I just hope they get it to other countries soon, too—the Conservative Party of Canada appears to have stolen the last election using such a tactic.

Re:So the google gay marriage campaign...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here in Germany, the location of the polling station is printed right on the paper which tells you are allowed to vote. That way, you know for sure it's authoritative information. And if that one should be wrong, you'll have a document to proof you were misled.