Teenagers develop app to scrutinise election candidates
Are your election candidates up to scratch on community issues? Whose opinions really chime with your own? And are ingrained allegiances clouding your judgement? Two teenagers have developed an app to help you find the answers.
Offering the digital-savvy a way to scrutinise those braying for their votes, Votr is the brainchild of Londoners Zak Cutner and Freddie Poser who turned their coding skills to politics - despite being too young to vote themselves. "We found an electoral commission survey which showed that young people wanted to know more about their candidates," says 16-year-old Cutner. "So we chose to do something to do with the candidates and then we tied-in Twitter." The upshot is Votr - an app that uses your postcode to collate the tweets of those gunning for election in your area and invites you to swipe, like the Tinder dating app, right if you like the tweet, left if you don't and up if it leaves you cold. The identity of the tweeter, as well as overt party references, are obscured while you judge the posts, however a swipe down reveals your candidates' names, parties and how they are faring in winning your approval.
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