Votería: How One Latino Organization Uses Culture to Engage Voters

B. Godihal is one of the thousands of communities in Karnataka that have worked to hold clean elections, stirred by a confluence of awareness campaigns by nongovernmental organizations and rising public frustration with candidates’ broken promises.

In Takoma Park, Maryland, the voting age for local elections is 16. Lowering the age has increased turnout among youth—and studies show that the sooner people start to vote, the more likely they are to be lifetime voters.

To break through gridlock on fair housing, city planners, citizens, and government officials in wealthy Westchester County, New York, try a new tactic: Using a simulation game to try out different development scenarios. The result has been increased civic participation and efficiency.

In the U.S. the electorate skews white, wealthy, and old because such demographics are more likely to vote. Creating mandatory voting laws would increase voter turnout and thus increase voting equity.

Game inventors have created a new game to help students who suffer from ADHD and other mental problems develop and stimulate their brains in a safer, more targeted way than normal medicines.

In Saudi Arabia, female gamers were barred from gaming conventions so an all-female gaming convection was born, offering women a place of self expression and encouraging careers in science and computer programming.

Voters tend to know a lot about presidential and local candidates but little about those in between. In Sierra Leone, an organization hosted, filmed, and then projected the debates in villages, increasing voters’ knowledge of the candidates and issues, and changing the way people voted.

In Honduras, tens of thousands of people have hearing disabilities. The National Autonomous University of Honduras has developed software that converts spoken language into an avatar on the computer who signs for the hearing impaired. Teachers in classrooms can teach hearing impaired students with this new software.

Low voter turnouts, populists offering half-truths, corporate interests, and the blurring of facts in the media are signs that democracy around the world is in turmoil. Internationally, citizens have assembled different programs and initiatives that arm ordinary people with information about policy and their elected officials, as well as distinctive ways to reform the electoral system.

The Live6 area is home to a robust cultural and creative community. And with an increase in development, there's opportunity for artists and institutions to tap into that energy to spur growth.