Just in time for the midterm elections, Foursquare unveiled a new badge – “I Voted.” The location-based social networking service has teamed up with “experienced political strategists, designers and activists” and a company called JESS3 to also launch a custom map providing a real-time visualization of check-ins for the Election Day.
Voters are encouraged to check-in by including the text “#ivoted” at their polling station and grab the new badge immediately.
The press release goes on talking about the objectives of this project:
- First, the idea is to encourage civic participation;
- Second, to increase transparency by visualizing how many voters are checking-in, and at which polling locations; and
- Third, prepare for the 2012 Presidential Elections and beyond.
You can visit the official website at elections.foursquare.com that goes live today. From there, you will be able to explore check-ins by city and state, while also getting data about the volume, time of day and gender that each polling location is experiencing.