“The Millennial generation continues to grow as young immigrants expand their ranks. Boomers – a generation defined by the boom in U.S. births following World War II — are older and shrinking in size as the number of deaths exceed the number of older immigrants arriving in the country.”

– Richard Fry, Pew Research Center

What does this mean for voting?

In 2012, Baby Boomers accounted for 36 percent of the electorate. They consistently vote in large numbers. But as Boomers continue to shrink in size, will Millennials take the reigns?

According to a 2015 Boston Globe article, that does not appear to be the case. Less than 20 percent of 18-29 year olds voted in the 2014 midterm election. Millennials simply do not believe that exercising their vote is an effective medium for change.

“How did we get from fighting for the vote to dismissing it as meaningless?”

– Joanna Weiss, Boston Globe

It is not that Millennials don’t care about societal issues. In fact, they are more educated and more inclined to volunteer than previous generations. At Follow My Vote, we believe that we have found a way to boost Millennial participation and confidence in the voting process that will more accurately reflect their volunteerism. Millennials are disenfranchised with the traditional two-party system. By moving the election online, the platform allows third-party candidates to have a greater voice. Further, Millennials will already be more willing to participate because of their familiarity with the technology that accompanies an online election. Making the election blockhain-based assures citizens that their votes were counted correctly with end-to-end verifiability. Lastly, by making the vote trackable in real-time, elections will be much more exciting and dynamic.

At Follow My Vote, we envision an open source, end-to-end verifiable voting system. Vote where you count, and sign up below for the 2016 Parallel Presidential Election. Help us make history in 2016.

About the author: Tyler Molihan is a Marketing Intern at Follow My Vote. He hopes to increase awareness about the benefits of online voting systems.

The post Millennial Generation Continues to Grow, While Their Voter Participation Remains Stagnant appeared first on Follow My Vote.

“Trump swamped his rivals by piling up seven wins across the nation, demonstrating broad appeal for his anti-establishment movement. Clinton also had a strong night, winning seven states and showing her strength with minorities in the South.”

– Stephen Collinson, CNN Politics

Democratic Party

It was Clinton who dominated southern states yesterday, collecting Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. Clinton also won Massachusetts. All in all, Clinton walked away with 486 new delegates, which bumps her overall total to 1,034. However, Sanders did not go quietly into the night. The Senator collected a handful of states, including Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, and his home state of Vermont. Sanders gained 321 new delegates, bumping his total to 408. Again, Clinton is not mathematically a lock as of yet, but the math is stacked against Sanders at this point. Up next, the Democratic candidates head to Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska on March 5.

Republican Party

Trump continued his dominance among the field on Super Tuesday, collecting 7 of the 11 total states in play. His virtual sweep of southern states, mixed in with Vermont and Massachusetts, gave Trump a mixture of states that no other candidate has ever collected before.  Trump collected 234 new delegates, pushing his overall total to 316. At this point, the race is Trump’s to lose.

Cruz did not have a bad day, all things considered. The Senator collected wins in 3 states, including his homes state of Texas. Cruz’s delegate total increased by 209, putting his total at 226. However, one of the biggest surprises of the night was Rubio’s poor showing. Rubio only won Minnesota last night, after campaigning hard against Trump in the week leading up to Super Tuesday. He gained 90 new delegates, with his total reaching 106. The race for the nomination picks up again on March 5, with Kansas, Louisiana, Kentucky and Maine in play.

What We Learned

The Follow My Vote team participated in Super Tuesday festivities, in our home state of Virginia. We had a great time interacting with Virginia Tech students and members of the Blacksburg community as they went out to cast their votes.

The FMV team was extremely encouraged to see the numbers and enthusiasm that millennials showed when discussing the importance of voting. This block of voters was easily the most willing to discuss their experience with us. We made sure to ask some of those we interviewed if they were aware of alternate voting methods, such as Ranked Choice and Instant-Runoff voting. Many of those we spoke to remain unaware of these alternate voting methods which we would like to see increase in the future.

Unsurprisingly, there have been multiple reports throughout the country about irregularities at polling locations. For example, a radio station in Austin, TX received multiple calls about their votes being cast incorrectly for Rubio instead of Trump. This reaffirms FMV’s mission to move to a transparent, end-to-end verifiable voting system. Even if the problem were to be statistically insignificant, each voter should have their true voice heard.

At Follow My Vote, we envision an open source, end-to-end verifiable voting system. Vote where you count, and sign up below for the 2016 Parallel Presidential Election. Help us make history in 2016.

About the author: Tyler Molihan is a Marketing Intern at Follow My Vote. He hopes to increase awareness about the benefits of online voting systems.

The post Super Tuesday Results and the Importance of Millennial Participation appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Gary Johnson ended up being the closing speaker for the entire conference. In observing his speech, it became clear that he has a natural ability to reach young minds and connect with millennials on a deeper level. When he was wrapping up and began transitioning to the Q&A portion of his speech, I couldn’t help but wonder… if he ‘gets it’ like we millennials do?

With this in mind, I decided to get in line so that I could pose a question to Gary Johnson, which was to be “Would he, Gary Johnson, be willing to publicly support the push for the United States to adopt Follow My Vote’s voting software, the world’s first open source end-to-end verifiable voting system?”

There were so many Millennials fired up about his speech and the message he was conveying, the Q&A line ended up being so long that they had to cut off the questioning before I had a chance to ask my question. This did not deter me. I saw that he was being escorted out of a side door of the conference room, and I realized that this was my shot.

I ran outside the entrance to the conference room and down the hall only to run right into Gary Johnson, whom greeted me with a smile and a handshake.

I told him that I was very impressed with his speech and how well he connected with his audience and wished him the best of luck in his campaign for the President of the United States. I then shared the news with him about the Follow My Vote project, letting him know that we are a startup based at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center and that we are developing the technology that would ultimately support honest elections worldwide.

I then asked him if he would be willing to publically support our project in the days ahead, and he said “YES… Absolutely!”

He went on to speak to the fact that he recognizes the importance of our project and, as we were posing for a picture, he wished us the best of luck.

With the millennials support from here on out, we should be good to go!

Who is Gary Johnson?

If you are unaware, Gary Johnson is an American businessman and a politician. His most notable achievements have been serving as New Mexico’s Governor from 1995 to 2003 and representing the Libertarian Party as their nominee for President of the United States in 2012.

He is currently a candidate for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in the 2016 election.

Johnson is also well known for climbing the Seven Peaks, which are the seven highest points on every continent of the world. This includes Mount Everest.

About The Author: Adam Kaleb Ernest is the CoFounder and CEO of Follow My Vote.

*Follow My Vote is an Nonpartisan Public Benefit Corporation.

The post Gary Johnson Says Yes To Follow My Vote @ ISFLC appeared first on Follow My Vote.

In the video, one can learn two things; (1) everyone knows who Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton is, and (2) it seems as if all other candidates do not stand a chance of capturing the attention of millennials. So, what does this mean for voter turnout? Voter turnout, especially with millennials, is characterized on how well they can identify with a candidate and how well they can give a candidate name recognition.

However, for this generation, most tend to think outside of the two-party realm of politics and often have independent views of their own. In a New America report, The Civic and Political Participation of Millennials, through a poll it showed that 50% of millennials identified at politically independent, and of the entire polled population that claimed to be independent, 50% were millennials.

For politicians, this could mean trouble. Because of these non-partisan views, this generation often spends effort and time outside of political campaigns and lobbying and more time in community; which, for civil engagement is a good thing. Though little involved in politics as a whole, this generation is often involved in community volunteering, consumer activism and spearheading other civic campaigns on digital platforms such as blogs, websites and social media.

The issue is not “why aren’t they engaged with politics and elections” but rather “why aren’t political candidates engaging with them and going where they are.”

About the author:  Justin Ashwell is a Marketing Intern at Follow My Vote.

The post Where Are The Millennials At? appeared first on Follow My Vote.