Why is We Vote’s Code Open Source?

The software that powers We Vote is open source—that means anyone can read the code and work with us to improve it.

Why open source? Well, We Vote was founded on the principle that great things can happen when there’s a free exchange of ideas, and a free exchange of ideas is what open source software is all about. Open source software is accessible to anyone who wants to help improve it. For this reason, We Vote has had engineers and designers from Apple, Twitter, and Google help develop our software, among others. Since anyone can contribute to open source software, the potential knowledge pool going into the program is magnitudes larger—and that means a richer experience for users.  Speaking of creating the best user experience possible, bugs and edge cases can be surfaced much more quickly in open source software than in traditional QA processes, since the code is visible to more engineers. This transparency also makes our software and organization more trustworthy, since there are no hidden formulas determining what voters see or don’t see. All of these factors made saying yes to open source a no-brainer for the We Vote team.

It inspires us every time voters stake their claim on the future by participating in democracy. A lot. This near-crazy passion we have for the importance voting drives everything we do, from writing code to designing voter guides. Voting is a right we all share, and it’s a right we should all use. With We Vote, you can use this profound right more collaboratively than ever before. But please, don’t just take our word for it. Visit www.WeVote.US to get started. Happy voting, friends.

Grant Palmer is a writer, activist, and worker for equal access to higher education for the non-profit organization The East Bay College Fund. He is from Los Angeles, CA and is currently based in Oakland, CA.