By Jacqui Cheng | Published: October 22, 2008 - 10:18AM CT
Unless you have been living under a rock all year (and we wouldn't blame you if the events of the past few weeks mean that you are), you know that the US presidential election is less than two weeks away. And while you, our conscientious readers, undoubtedly already know where to go on the first Tuesday of November, many others do not. To help with that, Google has launched a couple of web services aimed at educating users about registration information and voting locations.
First up is Google's US Voter Info site, which is just a version of Google Maps with integrated voter information. Users can enter their addresses in order to find their designated polling place, and even get directions right from the map. If it can't find a polling location for your address (which, curiously, it could not for mine smack dab in the middle of Chicago), it will suggest getting an absentee ballot for your state with a link directly to where you can find obtain one. It's really quite handy if you're not in the mood to go digging around website after website in order to find out where to go on November 4.
Even more useful is a US Voter Info Gadget that can be embedded into any third-party website or blog. The module is just a shrunken-down version of the above map, and again allows you to enter your address in order to find the closest voting location. Curiously, the Gadget managed to find a voting location (the correct one, at that) for my address while the full-fledged map could not. Is Google not pulling the information from the same place?
So Google's US Voter services aren't perfect, but as a public service, they're not half bad. "Organizing information is our mission," reads an entry on the Official Google Blog. "We do that every day with web content, and we want to do the same thing with information to inform and empower voters and to help them get to the polls this election season."
If you're unsure where to cast your vote, here's an embeded version of the Voter Info Gadget. If you find it useful, embed it on your own blog or website to help others find their polling locations a little easier.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGWdjc
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