Allow us first to apologize for this interruption. We do, like many of you, appreciate the comfort of everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. We enjoy them as much as any man or woman. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereupon important events of the past, usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday, We thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. Why? Because while the baton may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth.

And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this world, isn’t there?

Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame?

Well, certainly, there are those who are more responsible than others. But, truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

We know why you did it. We know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be?

War, terror, disease. They were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to your government.

They promised you order, they promised you peace, and all they demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

Today, we seek to end that silence. Today, we’d like to remind this world of what it has forgotten. More than 400 years ago, a citizen wished to embed the 5^th of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives.

So if you’ve seen nothing, if these acts of our governments remain unknown to you, then we would suggest that you allow the 5^th of November to pass unmarked.

But if you see what we see, if you feel as we feel, and if you would seek as we seek, then we ask you to stand beside us, one year from today, and together we shall give the world a 5^th of November that shall never, ever be forgot.” – V

The above quote is a paraphrased excerpt from the movie V for Vendetta, which refers to a man named Guy Fawkes, whom, in 1605, had an idea and attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament to send a message to his fellow citizens that their government had become all too powerful and corrupt, and that the government ultimately needed to be put in their place.

When reflecting on this moment in history, we are told to remember the idea and not the man. Because man can fail. He can be caught. He can be killed and forgotten. But 410 years later, an idea can still change the world.

At Follow My Vote, we hear from people, old and young, that secure and verifiable online voting is an idea whose time has come. What you may not know is that the people are our customers and we aim to give the people what they want.

To this end, we have come up with a better, more secure, convenient, and honest way to cast your vote. We are leveraging blockchain technology, in combination with elliptic curve cryptography, to build the online voting platform of the future.

The people have spoken. The people want and demand the ability to freely vote online, securely, privately, with integrity and from their own device.

It is time… to catch up with the times and bring voting into the 21^st century. But, most importantly, it’s time to begin voting with integrity.

Our integrity sells for so little these days, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch, we are free. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.

Therefore, Follow My Vote has decided to promote truth and freedom by taking the liberty of sponsoring a presidential election of our own in parallel to the United States Presidential Election of 2016, using a provably honest online voting system.

When you really sit down and think about it, what makes a voting system legitimate is whether or not the people decide to use it.

Voters that freely choose to cast a vote within the Follow My Vote’s parallel election will be choosing to do the right thing. Voters will be choosing to take a stand for what they believe in, to voice their support for using a voting system that has integrity, one that can be trusted because voters can count their vote with their own eyes.

When the “We the People” vote using our software, they can follow their vote into the transparent, blockchain-based ballot box to ensure that their vote was cast and intended and counted as cast. In this way, the people that vote using our voting software will be choosing honesty and transparency over secrecy and opacity. Ultimately, voters that vote in our system will be choosing to be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

We want to be clear that we at Follow My Vote do not advocate blowing up any buildings, or any other kind of aggressive action. While we strongly believe that people should not be afraid of their governments; rather, that governments should fear the people, we are also strict adherents to the Non-Aggression Principle and we recognize that violent action will not help us to achieve greater freedom. We seek only to remind our governments that they operate only with the express consent of the governed, and to empower the people to declare their consent clearly, as the way voting is done today does not fulfill this requirement.

We are well aware that upon reading this, there will be many of those that doubt us. There are those that may ask us, do we really think that voting in one parallel election will make this world a better place?

To those that doubt us, we must answer by saying there is no certainty, only opportunity. A parallel election is a symbol, as is the act of voting in it. Symbols are given power by the people. Alone a symbol is meaningless, but with enough people… voting in a parallel election can change the world.

We know there’s no way we can convince you that this is not one of their tricks, but we don’t care…

We are Follow My Vote. We are blockchain agnostic. We are government agnostic. We are worldwide.

One thing we can promise you is that, this is in no way, shape or form an attempt to create chaos, cause rioting in the streets, or insight violence in any way. This should not to be considered an act of terrorism or treason; if anything, this should be considered an act of patriotism.

To be clear, we are not suggesting that anyone attempt to overthrow their own government, nor have we planted any bombs to blow up any buildings anywhere. The only thing we hope to blow is the minds of “We the People” when they get to experience voting for the President of the United States from their smartphones for the first time.

You may ask us, why haven’t we stepped forward until now? The answer is that we simply didn’t have the solution to the problem, but now that we do, all we need is you.

The question you have to ask yourself is “How do I want to be remembered on the 5^th of November?” The choice is yours and yours alone to make. We cannot make it for you. This may be the most important moment in your life. Believe you me, if you want to be on the right side of history, the answer is easy…

Stand with us in 2016, on the 5^th of November, and together we shall give the world a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.

On this day, the 5^th of November of 2015, Following My Vote will be exhibiting at Web Summit 2015, a global tech conference attended by several startups that are leveraging technology to make this world a better place. At this conference, we will be formally announcing our plans to start a transparency movement that will stand the test of time.

If you don’t live in the United States, don’t worry, there are several ways that you can get involved and take part in this movement. For instance, we have just launched an official ambassadors program and are looking to recruit agents of change, those that want to live in an open and honest world. If you think you think you would be a good fit for this program, please visit our ambassadors program page for more info!

The post Remember, remember the 5th of November appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Initiative-122 could also set nationwide standards for honest elections and public financing for political campaigns. The initiative contains innovative ideas that have never been seen before, such as voters receiving $25 vouchers to give to the candidates of their choice. They can give to one candidate or several. Either way I-122 could reign in big money and pave the way for more honest elections all over the country.

If you live in the Seattle area, this is what it means to vote yes on I-122:

LIMIT CORPORATE AND WEALTHY INTERESTS’ INFLUENCE ON OUR ELECTIONS

• Limits campaign contributions from interests that spend significant funds ($5,000+) lobbying the city and corporations with large ($250,000+) city contracts.

SET STRICT LIMITS ON BIG MONEY CONTRIBUTIONS AND CAMPAIGN SPENDING

• Sets strict contribution limits to no more than $500 in all city races (similar to San Francisco), and limits spending by candidates who voluntarily participate in Democracy Voucher program.

INCREASE TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND FINES ON RULE BREAKERS

• Tightens campaign reporting deadlines and increases transparency with electronic disclosure requirements.
  Each paid signature gatherer must show a badge stating “PAID SIGNATURE GATHERER.”
  Increase fines & penalties on those breaking election rules.

INCREASE PARTICIPATION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

• Allows everyday people to support candidates of their choice with four $25 Democracy Vouchers each election cycle.
  Enables more candidates, including women, young people and minority candidates, to run viable campaigns against big money candidates.

KEEP OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS HONEST

• Makes it illegal for city officials and their top aides to take lobbying jobs immediately after leaving office.
  Requires elected officials to fully disclose possible conflicts of interest.

PROVIDE ITS OWN FUNDING MECHANISMS

• Allows City to pay for I-122’s $3 million/year costs either from the general or from a levy, estimated at $0.019 per $1,000 of assessed property value, about $0.65/month for a $400,000 property.

Source: Honest Elections Seattle.
About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post Bringing Honest Elections To Seattle With Initiative 122 Could Set The New Standard appeared first on Follow My Vote.

This event this year will be held on the Virginia Tech Drillfield on September 4th from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Virginia Tech’s Gobblerfest has been a huge success for Follow My Vote. This will be our third year attending!  We have blog posts covering our previous appearances (Gobblerfest 2014 and Gobblerfest 2013) that are worth reading.

We have many goals this year at Virginia Tech’s Gobblerfest. We plan to engage with students and invite them to join our grassroots movement for online voting! Here are a few of the items we will be sharing with students! Let us know what you think in the comment section and make sure to check our booth out if you’re in Blacksburg.

In preparation, we have designed a page on our site specifically for Hokies. Check out why we think Virginia Tech students should join our cause!

We will also be handing out these flyers! Pretty cool right?

At Follow My Vote, we believe that petitions are a strong force for effective change. Petitioning the SGA at Virginia Tech could be a huge stepping stone for online voting technology and put Virginia Tech on the map for being on the forefront of new technology in the voting industry.

If you are still not convinced you need to swing by, we will be giving out Follow My Vote T-shits and koozies! And if your into raffles, get excited! Because we will be raffling off several Virginia Tech T-shirts! (the raffle winners will be announced at 7:00 p.m. at our booth)

About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post Follow My Vote Prepares To Captivate And Engage At Virginia Tech’s Gobblerfest 2015 appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Arguably the next killer app for tech would be online voting. That’s a state and local issue, but I wondered whether you think that it’s something that should be a priority for technologists?

The President’s response:

Absolutely. So we’ve been talking about the U.S. digital team, and a lot of this is: How do we deliver services better to customers?

Along with his support for online voting, the President addressed the need for both transparency and easy access to information regarding things such as how our tax money is being spent. He also hit the nail on the head, as far as encouraging citizen engagement with technology, something Follow My Vote is extremely passionate about. The President said:

What we should also be thinking about is, How can technology enhance the experience of democracy? How can we make it easier to vote? How can we make it easier for like-minded citizens to petition their government in a way that is meaningful?

YES! YES! YES! These are absolutely the type questions we need to be asking right now in our country, and the President of the United States just gave his validation.

Obama also shared some of the reasons he came out in support for online voting, and it has to do with his daughters.

I look at my daughters, who are, as every teenage kid is today, completely fluent in technology and social media. They might not go to a town hall meeting physically, the way their grandmother might have around some issue, and sit through a two-hour debate. Because they’re just used to things moving faster. But we can imagine creating a corollary process for them that is consistent with how they interact generally. We can think of apps that promote engagement and the power of people.

Our youth are extremely active online and Obama gets it. They communicate, interact, shop, and even go to college online. Shouldn’t we have options in the voting process to encourage their engagement? We believe online voting is the solution to increasing voter turnout and restoring faith in the democratic process.

President Obama just voiced his support for online voting. Will you?

Check out the full interview on Fast Company here.

About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post Did President Obama Just Announce His Support For Online Voting? appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Currently there is a petition to establish US diplomatic relations with Liberland on petitions.whitehouse.gov. We know that our fans and readers are interested in Liberland and thought we would shine some light on this petition.

Establish U.S. Diplomatic Relations with Liberland.
We the people petition the President of the United States to formally establish U.S. diplomatic relations with the sovereign country of Liberland. Liberland is a Constitutional Democracy that came into existence due to a border dispute between Croatia and Serbia. This area along the west bank of the Danube River is not claimed by Croatia, Serbia, or any other country. It was therefore “terra nullius,” a no man’s land, until Vít Jedlička seized the opportunity and on 13 April 2015 formed a new state in this territory. The boundary was defined so as not to interfere with the territory of Croatia or Serbia. Its total area of approximately 7 km² is now the third smallest sovereign state. We believe U.S. diplomatic relations will bring international recognition and peaceful territorial respect.

Please check out our other Liberland posts here: The beginning of Liberland , Follow My Vote at Freedom Fest (where we met the President of Liberland)

Note: Follow My Vote is a non partisan oragnization and does not endorse parties or countries. We will however, continue to follow the rise of Liberland and petitions we feel our readers would like to know about.

The post Petition To Establish U.S. Diplomatic Relations With Liberland. appeared first on Follow My Vote.

This article takes a look at some great ideas that you can implement into your petition strategy to make sure that the mass of people you have assembled behind your cause is well led and instructed. Being a good leader will help to focus your group and make sure that benchmarks are met.

What are some tools that you can think of that would make the charge of a petition stronger still?

Online petitions are everywhere. Increasingly news stories contain the line “an online petition has attracted thousands of signatures”, while Twitter and Facebook feeds are awash with people looking for support. The Government likes them so much they set up their own site. But are they any good and do they work?

My answer (unsurprisingly from someone who runs the UK branch of the world’s largest petition site) is ‘yes’ – but in themselves, petitions are only the start of a dynamic and exciting campaign journey. Petitions can win with ten signatures or with 10 million signatures. Despite the best efforts of the UK government to make 100,000 signatures the arbitrary petition signer threshold for access to our own elected leaders, there are no hard and fast rules. It’s not the size of the petition, it’s what the signers do that counts.

Petitions are simply a big group of people. As such they are the basis of your movement – the army you assemble to march toward your target. An un-commanded army is just a group of people ambling about. When you start the petition you are the general of this army and the soldiers need to be well commanded and well armed. In this incredibly stretched metaphor, you arm them with tactics to convey the message.

On Change.org we have hundreds of examples of ordinary individuals who’ve got people to do extraordinary things. One of the best is Lucy Holmes who has been using Change.org (as well as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, TV and newspapers) to ask the editor of the Sun newspaper to drop page three.

She’s got an 85,000 strong petition which, in and of itself, won’t win it alone. It’s the activity around it – the two way conversation she has with her supporters that makes the campaign so powerful. It’s the creative tactics like Leanne (a ‘Lego page 3 model’) that engages existing supporters, brings in new ones and generates publicity: a virtuous circle that’s made this one of the biggest people powered movements of recent times.

Then there’s Jayne Linney – ATOS wouldn’t record her disability assessment after continually getting her details wrong, despite ministerial statements that they would do. She started a Change.org petition and got a relatively modest 1,500 signatures but by combining this with traditional tactics like writing to MPs and calling local journalists she won her campaign too.

There was a great line in a local newspaper about a petition on our site, “the petition gathered over 12 signatures in two days” it’s easy to laugh – but it proves that there’s no magic number. And nor should there be. Campaigning is about taking people on a journey, engaging them in conversation and making them think about what they’re doing.

Read More Here: theguardian.com.

The post Learn How to Start Your Own Online Petition appeared first on Follow My Vote.

The NFL previously held a non-profit tax exemption status. This means they did not have to pay a dime to the government out of their $10 billion a year industry.

The petition gained the signatures of 429,565 supporters by the end. Several U.S. Senators had even joined the cause in September of 2014, helping two bills be introduced surrounding this cause.

The following statement on the petition helped this cause come to fruition.

The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, makes nearly $44 million a year — earning more than the heads of companies like Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart. Through TV deals alone, the NFL has inked nearly $30 billion with various television networks. And so often, fans like you and me are asked to foot the bill for new stadiums through our own taxes.

Yet despite being the most profitable sports league in the entire world, the NFL does not pay federal taxes.

The NFL should pay their fair share towards our economy! Just like Major League Baseball, which gave up its nonprofit status in recent years, as well as the National Basketball Association, the NFL should not be able to hide under a nonprofit status in order to avoid paying federal taxes.

The NFL has methodically worked to shift all the power to their side, leaving players, employees and PARTICULARLY THE FANS little say in what goes on with the league. We deserve a say, but do not wish to boycott our teams! Therefore, we are calling on our elected representatives to revoke the tax-exempt status we bestowed upon the league half a century ago. Please sign this petition, and let Congress know that you want them to reconsider the NFL’s tax exempt status.

Please check out the Follow My Vote’s petition for provably honest elections! Help us make a successful petition to enact change!

Source: change.org.

The post A Great Example of a Successful Petition. appeared first on Follow My Vote.