It’s no secret that we are pretty big fans of civic engagement over here at Reboot.  For democracy nerds like us, Election Day is a special day, one that ignites our passion for both the amplification of individual voices and the improvement of services and structures that promote good governance.  The United States voting system is, as is becoming increasingly apparent, an archaic structure rife with poorly designed user experiences.  American democracy is a far cry from a human-centered service.

Reboot has been doing our part to improve the voting experience.  Today, a tool we’ve been developing since it’s initial birth at the PDF2012 hackathon earlier this year, is getting put to good use as voters cast their ballots nationwide.  PollWatchUSA – a collaboration between Reboot, CommonCause, and Web Sava, with input from TurboVote – equips voters with the ability to live-report problems they may be experiencing at the polls using a mobile website.

We are excited to see that the media is using the tool as well: Tim O’Reilly, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Alex Howard, and Tech President have directed voters to report using PollWatch, and CommonCause is working with WNYC throughout the day today to ensure poll monitors respond to the online reports.

Report problem at the polls here.  View voter’s reports and see a map of where reports are coming in from here.