US state to register voters via Facebook

Facebook users in the US state of Washington can now register via the social network to vote in elections. Microsoft has developed the application for this in collaboration with Facebook.

Voters in the United States have been able to register online since 2008. The MyVote system was created for this purpose. In total, in thirteen states it is possible for voters to register in this way. The new Facebook app offers the possibility to do this via the social network. “The app sends the information to MyVote and the user doesn’t have to leave the Facebook environment,” Shane Hamlin, Washington’s election co-director told Ars Technica.

After permission, the application retrieves information from the user’s Facebook profile. “Our database checks if you’re already registered and then forwards you to MyVote, after which you can adjust the personal details,” said Hamlin.

According to Hamlin, users don’t have to worry about their privacy being compromised. Facebook would only request the user’s name and date of birth from the profile and forward it to MyVote. The other information required to register as a voter is not visible to Facebook. “You’re giving your information to us, not Facebook,” Hamlin told Forbes.

The application will go live next week at the earliest, “but it may be later,” Hamlin said. With this application, the state of Washington hopes that more people will register as voters, but the app also has a financial benefit. It would save the state about twenty-five cents per registration.

According to Shane Hamlin, there is a chance that more states will use this application. “If it works as we expect, Facebook and Microsoft are willing to partner with any other state that uses online registration,” Hamlin said.