Posted by
Team Turk on Tuesday, September 05, 2006 4:21:49 PM
Kansas City Star highlights
political technology.
The best way to reach April Newby is on her cell phone.
In July, the Shawnee resident sent more than 800 text messages from her phone — on average, more than one an hour.
Her father just happens to be Johnson County’s election commissioner, Brian Newby.
Inspired in part by his daughter, he’s now harnessing such technology in an effort to increase turnout among people under 30 who traditionally don’t vote.
“We want to target people where they live and on their terms,” said Newby, a former Sprint employee who has been the county’s top election official for nearly a year.
Launched about three months ago, the service allows voters to receive electronic notices of election dates, advance voting and polling place changes on their computer, cell phone, iPod or other communication device.