Why you should be able to vote on your phone | Bradley Tusk

Fixing Politics with Your Phone

1. The Main Idea in a Nutshell

   • Making it possible for people to vote on their phones would get way more people to participate in elections, which could fix our broken political system by making politicians listen to everyone, not just a few.

2. The Key Takeaways

   • The Problem: Politicians mostly care about winning the next election, so they only listen to the small, extreme groups of people who always vote, ignoring what most regular people want.
   • The Solution is Your Phone: If voting were as easy as using an app on your phone, millions more people would vote. This would force politicians to pay attention to the "middle" instead of just the "extremes."
   • The Tech is Ready and Safe: A secure mobile voting system has already been built. It uses things like face scans and secret codes to prove it's you, and it keeps your vote private and trackable, just like a FedEx package.

   • The Big Challenge: The hardest part isn't the technology; it's convincing politicians to actually let us use it, because people in power don't usually like making it easier for others to challenge them.

   • Fun Facts & Key Numbers:

     • Fact: In a recent New York City primary election, voter turnout was only 7.2%.
     • Fact: When one city in Seattle tested mobile voting for everyone, turnout tripled.
     • Fact: After a mobile voting test in Denver, 100% of the people who tried it said they preferred it.

3. Important Quotes, Explained

   • Quote: "> Virtually every politician makes every decision solely based on winning the next election and nothing else."
   • What it Means: He's saying that politicians are more focused on keeping their jobs than on doing what's actually best for the people they represent.

   • Why it Matters: This explains why our political system can feel broken. If politicians only care about winning, they'll listen to the small, loud groups that help them win, not the quiet majority.

   • Quote: "> We have to free them from their clutches. We have to make it possible for them to move back to the middle. And the only way to do that is to get a lot more people voting, and the only way to do that is to meet the people where they are on their phones."

   • What it Means: If tons of average people could easily vote from their phones, politicians would be freed from the influence of extreme groups. They could finally start making decisions that most people actually agree with.
   • Why it Matters: This is his core solution. He’s saying the power to fix politics is literally in our hands—if we can just use our phones to vote.

4. The Main Arguments (The 'Why')

   1. First, the author argues that our political system is broken because only a tiny number of people—usually those with very strong, extreme views—vote in the most important local elections (called primaries). This gives that small group all the power.
   2. Next, he provides evidence that when you make it super easy for people to get involved politically (like he did with the Uber app), millions of people will do it. He believes the same thing will happen with voting.
   3. Finally, he points out that the technology for secure mobile voting already exists. They've built it, tested it, and he claims it's even safer than our current system because your vote is scrambled (encrypted), made anonymous, and you can track it to make sure it was counted.

5. Questions to Make You Think

   • Q: If mobile voting is so great, why don't we have it already?

   • A: The text says the biggest obstacle is politicians. People who are already in power don't like to make it easier for new people or new groups of voters to challenge them. The speaker says politicians will only allow it if the public demands it loudly and for a long time.

   • Q: Is voting on your phone actually safe from hackers?

   • A: According to the speaker, yes. He explains that the system uses multiple layers of security: it verifies who you are, your vote is encrypted (scrambled into a secret code), made anonymous, and taken offline before being counted. You also get a tracking number to see that it was received and counted.

   • Q: Would mobile voting get rid of voting in person?

   • A: No. The speaker is very clear that this would just be another option. If you like voting by mail or going to a polling place, you could still do that. This is just for the people who find the current ways too difficult.

6. Why This Matters & What's Next

   • Why You Should Care: This topic is about who has power in our country. If voting is hard, only a few people have a say. If it's as easy as using an app, everyone's voice can be heard. That could lead to leaders who actually solve problems that matter to you, like climate change, school safety, or the cost of college.
   • Learn More: To see how technology is already changing how people participate in government, check out some YouTube videos on how the country of Estonia uses "e-Residency" and online voting for its citizens. It's a real-world example of what the speaker is talking about.