[Music]
from the moment I looked back into his
eyes I knew he wasn’t going to make it I
held out the clipboard and tried to
break the bad news
I pointed directly to the problem
confused he asked me to explain it a
second time this was the most
heartbreaking voter-registration
experience of my life
the day was October 11th exactly one
month before the 2016 presidential
election move San Antonio’s staff
fellows interns and volunteers were
spread thin throughout the city rushing
to register as many new young voters in
bare County before the midnight deadline
these were our final hours all hands on
deck even if executive director I filled
a shift at northeast Lakeview college a
commuter campus at the edge of the city
are you registered to vote
I yelled across the busy Plaza today is
your last chance to register to vote for
the 2016 presidential election students
stopped mid-step young people flocked to
our table rushing to rushing to register
to vote and grabbing a copy of our
popular move San Antonio voter guide the
line was ten people deep throughout the
afternoon by the time he made it to the
front I could feel his excitement
surrounded by his friends he jerked the
clipboard away from me and began filling
out the form before I could even finish
explaining it to him first name last
name address where you live
County that’s where it all went wrong
instead of marking B for Bay
I watched this pin in slow-motion
mark h4 haze I stopped him and took the
clipboard what city do you live in I
asked seeing the words San Marcos fall
from his mouth I felt helpless
he lived thirty minutes from his college
but two counties away Texas has the most
strict voting laws in the United States
citizens like me who register voters are
required to take a state-mandated class
pledge and oath and follow a very rigid
set of rules
I can only register voters who live in
the county where I live I must obtain
written permission from each county
election official to register voters in
adjacent counties and I can’t register
Texans outside of my home county and
Jason counties I couldn’t help James he
lived two counties away pointing at the
clipboard I tried to explain the law and
I handed him a mail-in voter
registration application because of the
30-day deadline at midnight James would
have to fill out the form put a stamp on
it and drop it in the mail all by 5:00
p.m. today the time was 337 he had to be
at work in less than 30 minutes James
took the mail-in application and slid it
into his backpack as his smile faded he
walked off across the plaza we both knew
he wouldn’t vote that year democracy
lost a voice according to the Annette
Strauss Institute at Civic for civic
life at the University of Texas at
Austin there are two reasons why young
Texans don’t vote one voting
my vote doesn’t matter and two voting is
too hard
restricted voting laws create barriers
to civic participation and it’s working
in November of 2014 our statewide voter
turnout rate bottomed out when only 35%
of our neighbors made their voices heard
in this year’s city of San Antonio
election 13% of us cast a vote for mayor
and city council the only age
demographic to grow Millennials the
under 34 year olds increased 300% to
just over 10% of the total turnout
something is wrong here and we have to
fix it you deserve a better ballot box
Texas you deserve a more fair more
accessible more secure more reliable
democracy technology can give us a 21st
century voting system right now but only
if you demand it now is the time for
democracy 2.0 there are two innovations
which will change the way you cast your
vote automatic voter registration and
blockchain based virtual voting will
revolutionize our elections Texas makes
voter registration more difficult than
any other state in the nation want to
register to vote online just go to the
Secretary of State’s website and fill
out the form right not so fast
after you fill out the form you have to
print it you have to sign it in black or
blue ink you have to put in an envelope
put a stamp on it and drop in the mail
oh and James don’t forget the deadline
the most effective voter registration in
Texas is done in person face to face by
hand the same way dr. Martin Luther King
registered voters in this
right there but there is a better way in
2015
Oregon became the first state to pass
automatic voter registration a V are
revolutionising there’s their state
civic health this common-sense law
implemented through a robust interagency
database registered 300,000 people in
its first year and the results are
astonishing in 2016 95 percent of those
who registered by by AVR and voted in
the 2016 election were first-time voters
a VR increased the age racial and
economic diversity of Oregon’s entire
voting population tripling the number of
18 to 29 year olds
since then a VR spread to 11 other
states red states like Illinois blue
states like Colorado registering
millions and millions and millions of
voters along the way here’s how it works
imagine you’re a young mother living in
Colorado going to the women infants and
children’s office for a checkup
when you arrive they ask you to verify
your information you’ve moved since your
last visit
so you give them your new address you
see your baby’s nutritionist then go
about your way in a couple of weeks
you’ll receive a postcard in the mail
notifying you that you’ve been
automatically registered to vote because
of Colorado’s a VR system they’ve
already checked your identity and
they’ve they’ve verified your
citizenship don’t want to be registered
to vote check the opt-out box on the
postcard and drop it in the mail no
postage required it’s that easy a VR is
available right now
we have that technology all you have to
do is ask for it
Texas is not a red state or a blue state
Texas is a non-voting state in 2016
over half of Texans eligible to vote
didn’t even cast a ballot and 69% of
them were registered to vote there are
other barriers to voting in Texas and
the next one technology must disrupt is
the ballot box itself why do we insist
on restricting participation in our
elections by time place and location
would you still use Facebook if we told
you that you had to go to a kiosk at
your public library between 7 a.m. and 7
p.m. to post pictures of your cat I
didn’t think so from paper ballots to
punch button machines to hanging chads
our election technology has evolved
slowly many of our key of our County’s
voting machines are so outdated that
they’re basically like first generation
iPads strapped onto Ataris some County
election officials actually buy
replacement parts off of ebay so when
you voted last week for the Texas
constitutional amendment election you
did vote last week right you had to go
to your assigned polling location
between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
find parking wait in line maybe you
didn’t have to wait in line
remember your voter ID sign and cast
your vote and go about your day
imagine if you could log into a virtual
voting system from your living room in
September and cast your vote and you log
out change your mind about a candidate
or a ballot initiative log back in via
your cell phone in October change your
vote review your voting history and log
back out then at 7 p.m. and one second
on Election Day the system verifies your
voter registration check your voter ID
on file
authenticate your password count your
votes and announces the winner all
within minutes you get an email to your
inbox that verifies your vote and this
can all happen because of the blockchain
the blockchain is an automated
distributed ledger system it’s the
brains behind Bitcoin and etherium so if
you’re new to blotching here’s a little
bit about it when you cast your vote
your your vote becomes protected like a
mosquito trapped in amber that is a
block as more votes come in your blocks
stack on front of it and in layers then
every few minutes the the system
prêt compresses into one new block so if
you want to hack the system and go
change my vote you have to change it you
have to hack into every single block
before mine to get to my vote before the
next compression happens and
few minutes if you if you miss the
timeline the system catches you
quarantined the files and Flags it for
human road review watching voting is
already happening in Estonia and being
tested in Great Britain with a
burgeoning tech industry and
cybersecurity city USA San Antonio
should be leading the charge on
blockchain democracy we can still have
polling places for all of you out there
that like to go stand in line on
Election Day but for our generation for
our generation this this is the new
ballot box technology has changed the
way we get around our city and
communicate with our friends but
technology has not changed the way we
select our representatives yet now is
the time to innovate our elections move
San Antonio is doing this work every
single day join us if our state actually
had automatic voter registration I
probably would have never met James last
year I’ll never forget the look on his
face as I was explaining our outdated
photo registration law but we all know a
James James might be our classmate our
co-worker our friend you might be James
so while we fight for automatic voter
registration and block chain voting and
suffrage for 16 and other election
reforms go find your James help James
register to vote get James to the polls
because James democracy 2.0
depends on you
you
from the moment I looked back into his
eyes I knew he wasn’t going to make it I
held out the clipboard and tried to
break the bad news
I pointed directly to the problem
confused he asked me to explain it a
second time this was the most
heartbreaking voter-registration
experience of my life
the day was October 11th exactly one
month before the 2016 presidential
election move San Antonio’s staff
fellows interns and volunteers were
spread thin throughout the city rushing
to register as many new young voters in
bare County before the midnight deadline
these were our final hours all hands on
deck even if executive director I filled
a shift at northeast Lakeview college a
commuter campus at the edge of the city
are you registered to vote
I yelled across the busy Plaza today is
your last chance to register to vote for
the 2016 presidential election students
stopped mid-step young people flocked to
our table rushing to rushing to register
to vote and grabbing a copy of our
popular move San Antonio voter guide the
line was ten people deep throughout the
afternoon by the time he made it to the
front I could feel his excitement
surrounded by his friends he jerked the
clipboard away from me and began filling
out the form before I could even finish
explaining it to him first name last
name address where you live
County that’s where it all went wrong
instead of marking B for Bay
I watched this pin in slow-motion
mark h4 haze I stopped him and took the
clipboard what city do you live in I
asked seeing the words San Marcos fall
from his mouth I felt helpless
he lived thirty minutes from his college
but two counties away Texas has the most
strict voting laws in the United States
citizens like me who register voters are
required to take a state-mandated class
pledge and oath and follow a very rigid
set of rules
I can only register voters who live in
the county where I live I must obtain
written permission from each county
election official to register voters in
adjacent counties and I can’t register
Texans outside of my home county and
Jason counties I couldn’t help James he
lived two counties away pointing at the
clipboard I tried to explain the law and
I handed him a mail-in voter
registration application because of the
30-day deadline at midnight James would
have to fill out the form put a stamp on
it and drop it in the mail all by 5:00
p.m. today the time was 337 he had to be
at work in less than 30 minutes James
took the mail-in application and slid it
into his backpack as his smile faded he
walked off across the plaza we both knew
he wouldn’t vote that year democracy
lost a voice according to the Annette
Strauss Institute at Civic for civic
life at the University of Texas at
Austin there are two reasons why young
Texans don’t vote one voting
my vote doesn’t matter and two voting is
too hard
restricted voting laws create barriers
to civic participation and it’s working
in November of 2014 our statewide voter
turnout rate bottomed out when only 35%
of our neighbors made their voices heard
in this year’s city of San Antonio
election 13% of us cast a vote for mayor
and city council the only age
demographic to grow Millennials the
under 34 year olds increased 300% to
just over 10% of the total turnout
something is wrong here and we have to
fix it you deserve a better ballot box
Texas you deserve a more fair more
accessible more secure more reliable
democracy technology can give us a 21st
century voting system right now but only
if you demand it now is the time for
democracy 2.0 there are two innovations
which will change the way you cast your
vote automatic voter registration and
blockchain based virtual voting will
revolutionize our elections Texas makes
voter registration more difficult than
any other state in the nation want to
register to vote online just go to the
Secretary of State’s website and fill
out the form right not so fast
after you fill out the form you have to
print it you have to sign it in black or
blue ink you have to put in an envelope
put a stamp on it and drop in the mail
oh and James don’t forget the deadline
the most effective voter registration in
Texas is done in person face to face by
hand the same way dr. Martin Luther King
registered voters in this
right there but there is a better way in
2015
Oregon became the first state to pass
automatic voter registration a V are
revolutionising there’s their state
civic health this common-sense law
implemented through a robust interagency
database registered 300,000 people in
its first year and the results are
astonishing in 2016 95 percent of those
who registered by by AVR and voted in
the 2016 election were first-time voters
a VR increased the age racial and
economic diversity of Oregon’s entire
voting population tripling the number of
18 to 29 year olds
since then a VR spread to 11 other
states red states like Illinois blue
states like Colorado registering
millions and millions and millions of
voters along the way here’s how it works
imagine you’re a young mother living in
Colorado going to the women infants and
children’s office for a checkup
when you arrive they ask you to verify
your information you’ve moved since your
last visit
so you give them your new address you
see your baby’s nutritionist then go
about your way in a couple of weeks
you’ll receive a postcard in the mail
notifying you that you’ve been
automatically registered to vote because
of Colorado’s a VR system they’ve
already checked your identity and
they’ve they’ve verified your
citizenship don’t want to be registered
to vote check the opt-out box on the
postcard and drop it in the mail no
postage required it’s that easy a VR is
available right now
we have that technology all you have to
do is ask for it
Texas is not a red state or a blue state
Texas is a non-voting state in 2016
over half of Texans eligible to vote
didn’t even cast a ballot and 69% of
them were registered to vote there are
other barriers to voting in Texas and
the next one technology must disrupt is
the ballot box itself why do we insist
on restricting participation in our
elections by time place and location
would you still use Facebook if we told
you that you had to go to a kiosk at
your public library between 7 a.m. and 7
p.m. to post pictures of your cat I
didn’t think so from paper ballots to
punch button machines to hanging chads
our election technology has evolved
slowly many of our key of our County’s
voting machines are so outdated that
they’re basically like first generation
iPads strapped onto Ataris some County
election officials actually buy
replacement parts off of ebay so when
you voted last week for the Texas
constitutional amendment election you
did vote last week right you had to go
to your assigned polling location
between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
find parking wait in line maybe you
didn’t have to wait in line
remember your voter ID sign and cast
your vote and go about your day
imagine if you could log into a virtual
voting system from your living room in
September and cast your vote and you log
out change your mind about a candidate
or a ballot initiative log back in via
your cell phone in October change your
vote review your voting history and log
back out then at 7 p.m. and one second
on Election Day the system verifies your
voter registration check your voter ID
on file
authenticate your password count your
votes and announces the winner all
within minutes you get an email to your
inbox that verifies your vote and this
can all happen because of the blockchain
the blockchain is an automated
distributed ledger system it’s the
brains behind Bitcoin and etherium so if
you’re new to blotching here’s a little
bit about it when you cast your vote
your your vote becomes protected like a
mosquito trapped in amber that is a
block as more votes come in your blocks
stack on front of it and in layers then
every few minutes the the system
prêt compresses into one new block so if
you want to hack the system and go
change my vote you have to change it you
have to hack into every single block
before mine to get to my vote before the
next compression happens and
few minutes if you if you miss the
timeline the system catches you
quarantined the files and Flags it for
human road review watching voting is
already happening in Estonia and being
tested in Great Britain with a
burgeoning tech industry and
cybersecurity city USA San Antonio
should be leading the charge on
blockchain democracy we can still have
polling places for all of you out there
that like to go stand in line on
Election Day but for our generation for
our generation this this is the new
ballot box technology has changed the
way we get around our city and
communicate with our friends but
technology has not changed the way we
select our representatives yet now is
the time to innovate our elections move
San Antonio is doing this work every
single day join us if our state actually
had automatic voter registration I
probably would have never met James last
year I’ll never forget the look on his
face as I was explaining our outdated
photo registration law but we all know a
James James might be our classmate our
co-worker our friend you might be James
so while we fight for automatic voter
registration and block chain voting and
suffrage for 16 and other election
reforms go find your James help James
register to vote get James to the polls
because James democracy 2.0
depends on you
you
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