Openvote

Openvote, Inc. operated within the political technology sector, providing a specialized platform for political campaigns and elected officials. The company was established in 2011 by co-founders Eitan Hersh and Dominikus Baur. The venture was a direct result of combining Hersh's deep academic expertise in U.S. elections and civic participation with Baur's technical proficiency in data visualization and interaction design. Hersh, a political science professor at Yale University at the time of founding, focused his research on voter mobilization and political data, identifying critical inefficiencies in traditional canvassing methods. Baur, holding a Ph.D. in Media Informatics, specialized in making complex data accessible and user-friendly across digital platforms.

The company's core offering was a software-as-a-service platform designed to modernize voter outreach by leveraging social networks. The service functioned as a Facebook-based canvassing application that enabled campaign supporters to grant the platform access to their network of friends. The system would then cross-reference these social connections with public voter registration files to identify eligible voters within a specific political district. This allowed campaigns to facilitate a "friend-to-friend" outreach model, where supporters could contact their own acquaintances directly, a method considered more effective than cold-calling or door-knocking by strangers. Beyond election cycles, the platform also served as a constituent engagement tool for incumbent officials to maintain communication with their voter base. The business model centered on providing this targeted voter contact and relationship management tool to political organizations. The company was reportedly acquired in 2015.

Keywords: political technology, constituent engagement, voter mobilization, campaign software, Eitan Hersh, Dominikus Baur, social network canvassing, voter outreach, election technology, civic tech, voter data, relationship management, political campaigns, friend-to-friend outreach, digital canvassing, political data analytics, get-out-the-vote, GOTV, persuasion technology