Foursquare is stepping up to encourage civic responsibility. Because they know we'll do anything for a badge.
this badge can be yours for a limited time!If you check in on Foursquare on Tuesday, November 2, you'll receive the I Voted 2010 badge. Purdy, ain't it? Absentee ballot voters, you can just Shout "I Voted" - but no cheating, guys! This is serious business.
Twitter users can use the hashtag #votereport when they vote, and the more info included in the tweet, the more it helps with the mapping and overall voting experience evaluation.
And the partnership among foursquare, twitter, Rock the Vote, Pew Charitable Trusts, Google, Voting Information Project, Engage and jess3 will result in a voting participation map that will create even more fodder for pundit speculation until the final results come in. You can track progress at most of these sites - or at http://elections.foursquare.com
Over on Facebook, Obama is promoting the Commit to Vote Challenge. It's a tad more labor-intensive (state your reason for voting then share with your friends) and then there's good motivation via a tally of people you've inspired to vote. It's a nice touch but will mostly appeal to hard-core political peeps or the I-live-to-compete-for-anything Dwight Schrutes and Rachel Berrys of the world.
So get your real life "I Voted" sticker or get your ltd. edition foursquare badge - just be sure to vote. You might as well participate... you're going to be standing in line staring at your phone anyway, right?
Here are a few more helpful resources for registered voters:
Find your Election Center on Google (just enter home address)
Text "where" to 30664 and answer their questions (it's free)
The Digitel put together some info Charleston voters here - and they've established the #chsvotes hashtag if you're gonna be tweeting on election day.
Go forth and vote!