This project rocks.  It’s so rare to find a project that combines innovative web software design with a relevant mission.

Circle Voting’s hypothesis is that grassroots, community-based voting recommendations can help us vote wisely and produce election outcomes less susceptible to mass advertising.  The website we’re building empowers ordinary citizens to make and receive those recommendations while respecting their privacy.  Like our prototype (which you can see now at circlevoting.com) it presents the information in the system according to the actual issues on the next ballot you can expect to see at your polling booth — but unlike our prototype, we’re aiming to include national coverage, integration with Facebook and Twitter, and a much more elegant design.

Please check out our stuff and consider getting involved by signing up on www.circlevoting.com.

And, if you’d like to help with testing and giving feedback on our new site, or promoting Circle Voting in your community, we have a Google Group for you.  I will personally be overjoyed if you join it.  About 1-2x a week, we’ll send the group a link to our work-in-progress and invite you to try it out and offer feedback.  You can join at http://groups.google.com/group/circle-voting.  See you there!

Many people are private around their voting, even some who are vocal about their political opinions. They don't talk about voting and certainly don't tell other people how they vote, or even whether they vote.  

This privacy reminds me of the silence around homosexuality in the 1960s. "It's nobody's business what we do in bed." This silence kept lesbians and gays cut off from each other and allowed the police to arrest and control them. The power in the early gay liberation was in finding common purpose in "coming out" and coming together. It was not an accident that the beginning of the movement was marked by resisting a police raid.

How many of us talk about our own voting choices with friends?  Or whether we even vote, especially in the low turnout primaries and local elections? Through our silence we give up our power as voters.

Our silence allows our politicians to remain addicted to campaign money. The wealthiest campaigns develop strategies that include distorted, negative attack ads and wedge issues that divide us. Monied interests fund these campaigns to buy influence and access. Their connections lead to favorable regulation and tax benefits.

The politicians won't break their addiction themselves. Let's find our common purpose in stopping this type of corporate welfare. Let's break our silence carefully and together.

— Send our website link to your circle of friends.  

— Engage in discussions about how money in politics really works.  

— Encourage your politically vocal friends to spread their views through Circle Voting.

— Consider sharing your opinions and recommending sources.

As the November election approaches, we can all take small steps together toward being more connected and more powerful voters. Visit our website, click "like" on our Facebook page or send us an email to get involved.