Hackers, Activists Team Up to Create App to Help Mexican Independent Candidates Agencia EFE
go to original July 16, 2017

Hackers and political activists have banded together to develop an app aimed at helping independent candidates gather the signatures needed on a petition to get on the ballot in Mexico.

“We view the model of political representation as obsolete,” political activist Gonzalo Ibarra told EFE, adding that there was a gap in the political system that could be bridged using digital technology.

Ibarra and Viridana Hernandez are promoting the app being launched in September by CambiaLaPoliticaYa and Codeando Mexico, the grassroots organizations behind the project.

The political activists have their eye on the 2018 general elections.

The app allows people to gather petition signatures for independent candidacies, federal referendums and citizens’ initiatives.

The timing appears ideal since many observers expect a large number of independent candidates to run for office next year.

The National Electoral Institute (INE) has told the app’s developers that it would like to learn more about the technology, but the agency lacks the tools to process petitions electronically.

The app’s developers see an opportunity due to the inefficiency of collecting petition signatures using paper.

Read the rest at Latin American Herald Tribune

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