Publius.org, Michigan's online voter resource, encourages voters to "finish the ballot."
WayneStateUniversity’s C&IT department recently agreed to host Publius.org, an online Michigan voter education guide.
The non-profit, non-partisan organization was created by Vince Keenan 12 years ago when he was a student at the University of Michigan. He said he was inspired to create the site after he went to the wrong polling location to vote.
“I really came at it with profound ignorance,” he said.
He said the experience also made him realize that though there are poll workers that may be knowledgeable and experienced enough to help voters, often there are not.
“I came out with a desire to make it easier to figure out where I was going to vote and how I was going to find out what was going to be on the ballot,” he said.
From there, he said he got a copy of the voter file from Michigan’s Secretary of State Office, took it home and worked with friends to create the first version of the site.
Since that time, the site, which relies on the state and the community for its information, has become an important tool for voter education.
“Our goal really is to get information out to people and have them make the best decision they can make,” he said. “The idea being that our democracy is stronger and better when people participate.
“Democracy is not just going in there and voting for the person that you’re really excited about; democracy is actually doing your homework and making sure that everybody’s taken care of.”
Keenan said the Website tries to provide information on every race in the election, because a lot of times, too much emphasis is placed on the presidency. That’s why this year, the Website encourages voters to "finish the ballot."
“You don’t want people to show up there and there are like 25 ballot issues that they’ve got to deal with and they haven’t thought about who they’re going to vote for judge,” he said.
“In reality, most of us are way more likely to meet a judge than we are to meet the president.”
Keenan said he saw a boost in traffic on the site this year and was worried it wouldn’t have enough capacity to sustain itself.
He said he contacted Jocelyn Benson of WSU’s LawSchool to sponsor the site and Rob Thompson of WSU’s C&IT department about hosting it.
“I’ve known the website for quite a while and I’ve always though it’s been a great resource for voters,” Thompson said. “So far, working with Publius has been great.”
Keenan said working with WayneState has been “fantastic” because it’s a school that has been proactive in promoting technology and active in the community.
“We’re very excited about the relationship with WayneState,” he said. “It was something that came together very quickly, but it felt very comfortable.”
 "Photo: Courtesy Publius.org")
