1. Blah, Blah, Blah #WhatAreYouSaying #GetToWhatMatters Layman’s Law App

2. You Ask… What can we do to encourage voting before, during, and after elections?

3. It’s a similar inquiry that President Obama asked on Edmund Pettus Bridge for #Selma50 on remembrance of #BloodySunday. “What’s our excuse today for not voting?” “How do we so casually discard the right for which so many fought?” “How do we so fully give away our power in shaping America’s future?”

4. We believe Voting has diminished because it’s not clear that it directly impacts our lives anymore. Now it’s all about party lines, campaign strategies, speeches, and divisive power plays to get or remain elected. It’s not about who is responsible for fixing potholes, supporting entrepreneurs, regulating phone, electric and gas costs, and making the schools in my district better. We’ve lost how voting makes the idea of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness possible.

5. We vote when we know it will impact what we care about. We devised our app around the theory of Layman’s Law, (a law we created as expert laymen), which states: I am only inspired to act if I care. I only care if it makes a difference in my life. “We The People” is NOT a homogenous body.

6. We also believe That we are experiencing the loss of civics in high school. People don’t know who’s responsible for what and how the government is designed to work and operate. So it’s easy to get caught up in the finger pointing drama.

7. Our Proposed Solution: Develop an ongoing culture of civic engagement 1. Start with easy to understand information in visual and text about the electoral process and how our government is supposed to work. 2. Then, using a mobile smart application tool, enable people’s ability to identify and follow the issues & electeds they want to track and engage with on the local, state, and national levels. 3. Make it easy to stay abreast, set alerts of events and activities, post comments, make inquiries, and be reminded of when and how to stay engaged.

8. The Layman’s Law App Features Collects user profiles Sets user’s issue priorities Sets communications and alert preferences Explains positions & responsibilities Profiles who is in office, their platform, track record & future promises Links to relevant press/media Syncs election cycles and public forums on calendar Allows mobile polling & general rankings Informs users of ways they can make inquires, concerns, approval to reps Informs user of volunteering opportunities Allows tracking of other areas besides user’s designated district

9. So, when asked, “What have you done for me, lately?” Layman’s Law App users will know.

10. Thank you to the designers on who made these images available on the Internet! #FreeInternet #NetNeutrality