Minnesota Finally Has 2 Senators (& a National Civic Summit)

The OSDV team had a wonderful time in beautiful, but construction-heavy downtown Minneapolis, MN. The TrustTheVote Project was an active participant at the National Civic Summit. Spanning July 15th through the 17th, the two-day conference was free and open to the public.

The Summit asked participants, “How can we increase civic imagination and capacity to solve today’s challenges in ways that serve the public interest?” Good question.

Heavy involvement from Minnesota’s Citizens League, the League of Women Voters, the governmental and public affairs teams at Target Corp. (sans Target dog), and a strategic dovetail into the regular meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State meant that a wide variety of presenters and participants were involved.

A real highlight was a presentation Friday by Aneesh Chopra, Federal Chief Technology Officer, who spoke about the White House’s efforts to bring technology and tools to simplify, streamline, and open government for the people. Well done, “we.gov”!

Greg Miller, Chief Development Officer at OSDV delivered a talk on critical democracy infrastructure, which was attended by a group including California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Minnesota elections director Gary Poser. The highlight of the Summit was the opportunity to engage in discourse with informed citizens–sharing the latest work of the TrustTheVote Project. They found us at the booth, during the Tweetup, in presentations, and in the hallways, asking questions about open source, the ways in which technology can assist in elections, and wondering how they might help.

Our hats are off to the many volunteers who made the Summit a success!