A project I am working on as my BFA Thesis.
It is meant to educate the masses about voting systems that can potentially replace the Electoral College. (Because the Electoral College doesn't fulfill the needs of U.S. citizens to the same degree that other country's voting systems fulfill the needs of their respective citizens, which I plan to address in this project!)
Demo is available at https://onygox.github.io/change-the-vote/ and is constantly being updated.
I did a research project last semester on the ineffectiveness of America’s “First Past The Post” voting system, and why the Electoral College perpetuates the erasure of many citizens’ votes. My research revealed that a citizen’s voting power, which one’s freedom can be extrapolated from, correlates to their general happiness level according to a few studies I cited. I found this immensely important, so it became my goal to find a voting system that maximizes the choice a voter has in order to maximize their well-being. This thesis project is a continuation of my previous work, and an effort to make my dense writing more accessible to the public via gamification.
The context of my thesis project is the catastrophe of the American Electoral College - more specifically, how its current voting system of First Past The Post fails the ideal of democracy by erasing many votes of the American Public. How I’m addressing the situation is through an interactive narrative experience in which the user develops relationships with the personifications of various alternative voting systems – namely, Approval Vote, Ranked Choice Vote, and National Popular Vote, with Anarchy appearing as a side character as well. It takes place in the ethereal home of an online chatroom similar to Discord or Slack, with each character interacting with each other in a very human way. The story begins on the Wednesday before Election Day and ends on Tuesday, November 3, 2020 with a meeting at the polling booth.
The plan is to educate the player using three methods: having a Fact-Checker bot character, designing interactive voting mechanics for specific story events, and prompting self-induced research. First off, the Fact-Checker will act as a moderator whenever a controversial statement is mentioned in the narrative, offering one or more online sources as citations to either confirm or deny said statement. Second, the user will get hands-on experience with what the various voting systems are like through story events. For example, the character of Ranked Choice Vote will challenge the player to rank their top three favorite board games, while the character of Approval Vote will request an evaluation of their outfit of choice by showing three different pictures and asking the player which ones they approve of. Lastly, by inserting easily accessible links to public information concerning the alternative voting systems that appear as characters in this story, I hope to motivate the players to research more about them and similar topics on their own.
My audience consists of every American voting citizen - mainly those who are voting for the first time (I’d like to give them more context about the system that they are interacting with), though I hope voting veterans will get something educational from this experience as well. I also hope this project will serve as an educational piece for those outside of the United States who come into contact with it – in which case it could express itself as an eye-opening and unique introduction to foreign politics. I am passionate about spreading the word concerning my viewpoint on this topic because I’ve lived here my whole life, and the first time I interacted with this voting system in 2016, I felt cheated after the results were announced. Elections have the potential to impact the lives of billions of people for better or for worse, so the more people know the power they hold in this democracy, the more things can change for the better. Education is the first step to reform.