Frequently Asked Questions
What is MyVote?
MyVote is a comprehensive digital governance platform that unifies government services, civic engagement, and democratic participation into a single mobile app. It’s designed to make government services as accessible as banking apps while strengthening democratic participation and accountability.
What’s the core mission of MyVote?
The core mission is to “billionaire-proof” democracy by creating a digital town square where every citizen has equal access to government services and elected representatives, free from lobbying gatekeepers, corporate manipulation, and information overload.
Is this a real product or theoretical concept?
MyVote is currently a video demonstration and book concept—not yet operational. The project is presented as an invitation for investors, developers, and policymakers to build this system rather than a finished product.
Who created MyVote?
Zed Starkovich, a filmmaker and independent researcher, created the concept along with a video demo and book to propose a better model for digital democracy.
What services does MyVote offer citizens?
MyVote consolidates access to:
How does MyVote simplify government access?
Instead of navigating dozens of different websites with different logins and confusing bureaucratic language, citizens access everything through one verified account. MyVote pre-fills information across agencies, provides plain-language explanations, shows eligibility before you apply, and tracks cases from start to finish.
How long does tax filing take with MyVote?
For 95% of citizens (those with standard W-2 income and no unusual circumstances), filing takes 3-5 minutes. The system pre-fills information from employers and banks, then you review and submit.
Can I access MyVote from my phone?
Yes. MyVote is mobile-first, designed for the device in your pocket. It works on both iOS and Android, is accessible to people with disabilities, and supports multiple languages.
How does MyVote connect all these different government systems?
MyVote uses X-Road, an open-source data exchange layer pioneered by Estonia. Instead of centralizing all data in one place, X-Road creates secure bridges between existing agency databases. Each agency keeps its own data and systems; X-Road provides the standardized interfaces that allow them to communicate.
Is MyVote a centralized database?
No. MyVote is the user-facing interface, while X-Road keeps data distributed across agencies. No single database contains all citizen information. Data flows only when you authorize it, and all queries are encrypted and logged.
How is my personal data protected?
MyVote implements multiple security layers:
What is biometric authentication and how does it work?
You verify your identity once using government-issued ID combined with your phone’s existing facial recognition or fingerprint scanner. Your biometric data never leaves your device—only encrypted confirmation tokens are sent to MyVote. This means only you can access your account, no one can steal your password, and you can’t be impersonated.
What about deepfakes and spoofing of facial recognition?
Modern biometric systems include liveness detection that verifies you’re a real person physically present at the moment. They can detect photos, videos, and sophisticated deepfakes, preventing spoofing attempts.
Can I use MyVote without a smartphone?
Yes. Alternative verification methods are available at public libraries and government offices for those without smartphones or computer access.
How is MyVote auditable?
• The code is open-source for public review.
• Third-party penetration testing happens quarterly.
• Bug bounty program rewards security researchers who find vulnerabilities.
• Transparency reports show aggregated statistics on verification, access requests, and incidents.
What does “verified authentication” mean in MyVote?
It means every account is tied to a real, unique person verified using government ID and biometric data. This stops bots, trolls, foreign interference, and anonymous harassment while maintaining privacy through display names.
Who needs to authenticate on MyVote?
• Citizens participating in civic engagement (voting, polling, commenting).
• Elected officials (with special verification confirming their current position).
• Businesses (using business license and tax ID).
• Organizations (using EIN and official registration).
• Licensed professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers with credential verification).
• Members of the public viewing information (no account needed).
How is anonymity different from privacy?
• Anonymity: Nobody knows who you are (the old social media model).
• Privacy: You control who knows what about you (the MyVote model).
MyVote isn’t designed to be an anonymous platform—it’s designed to verify you’re a real person while letting you choose what name to display publicly. Your private information stays private, but harassment becomes traceable and prosecutable.
Won’t verified accounts enable government surveillance?
MyVote is specifically designed to prevent this:
• Your biometric data never leaves your device.
• Your activity is private (what you search for, what information you read).
• Law enforcement needs warrants to access your data (with exceptions only for emergencies).
• Automatic notifications when your data is accessed.
• Regular transparency reports showing aggregate access patterns.
• You control all permissions explicitly.
This is fundamentally different from China’s Social Credit system, which tracks purchases, movements, and every activity to assign obedience scores.
How do I contact my elected representative through MyVote?
Send a direct message to your representative’s official MyVote account. Messages are:
• Delivered directly to the representative’s office
• Timestamped and logged as part of the public record
• Guaranteed responses within posted timeframes
• Tracked through completion for casework requests
What is “casework” and how does MyVote help?
Casework is when your representative’s office helps you navigate government bureaucracy. Examples: helping a veteran access VA benefits, assisting with a Social Security disability claim, or getting help with a contradictory EPA/state regulation.
MyVote’s casework system:
• Automates information gathering (X-Road retrieves relevant data with your permission)
• Documents every action (date, time, who contacted whom, what they discussed)
• Provides status updates in real-time
• Makes all interactions public record for accountability
• Tracks completion timeframes and constituent satisfaction
What accountability metrics are tracked for representatives?
MyVote creates a public performance dashboard showing:
• Average response time to messages
• Percentage of substantive responses vs. form letters
• Casework completion rates and average resolution times
• Virtual office hours held
• Constituent satisfaction ratings
• How their votes compare to district polling
• Campaign promise tracking
• Government transparency score
Can I see how my representative voted on specific issues?
Yes. MyVote provides:
• Full text of what they voted on
• Their explanation for the vote
• How it aligns with campaign promises
• How it aligns with constituent sentiment (based on verified polling)
• Complete voting record, searchable and downloadable
What happens if my representative isn’t responsive?
MyVote’s public metrics make non-responsiveness visible:
• Poor response times become public record
• Low constituent satisfaction ratings are visible
• Comparison metrics show how they rank against other representatives
• Voters can use this information at election time
• Civic pressure increases when accountability is transparent
How does MyVote combat misinformation?
MyVote addresses misinformation through:
What news appears on my MyVote dashboard?
Your dashboard is personalized to show:
• Verified journalism relevant to your topics and location
• Government announcements affecting you
• Expert analysis on policy issues you follow
• Clearly labeled opinion and commentary
• Relevant historical context
You control what topics you follow. The algorithm doesn’t decide—you do.
How does MyVote help me understand ballot initiatives?
For each ballot measure, MyVote provides:
• Plain-language summary (what it actually does)
• Fiscal impact analysis (who pays, who benefits)
• Who’s behind it (authors, donors, funding sources)
• Arguments for and against (fact-checked)
• Expert analysis
• How similar efforts fared in other states
• Endorsements and opposition
Instead of confusing legal jargon, you get information in comprehensible language.
What government records can I access through MyVote?
MyVote integrates access to:
How is MyVote connected to library systems?
MyVote provides searchable access to:
When researching a current issue, you can instantly find historical documents, academic research, and primary sources to understand context.
How does MyVote handle voting?
MyVote offers two options:
Is digital voting secure?
Yes. MyVote’s voting security model includes:
This addresses both security (preventing hacking) and secrecy (preventing revealing how you voted).
How does MyVote provide election transparency?
On election night, you see:
All transparent, verifiable, not subject to pundit speculation.
How does MyVote prevent election fraud?
Multiple layers:
What makes MyVote polls different from traditional polling?
MyVote implements verified polling, which differs from traditional polls:
How are verified polls conducted?
1. MyVote sends a question to a sample of verified citizens
2. Only authenticated account holders can participate
3. Each person votes once (can’t create fake accounts to skew results)
4. Results are published immediately with:
• Sample size
• Methodology
• Margin of error
• Breakdowns by demographic groups
5. Polls can cover policy positions, candidate preferences, local issues, national trends
How does verified polling affect representative responsiveness?
When representatives see that 73% of their district supports a bill or policy, they have real data instead of lobbyist pressure. It’s harder to ignore constituents when votes are verified and transparent.
What participatory budget tools does MyVote include?
This transforms budget-making from opaque bureaucracy to transparent citizen participation.
Can I file petitions through MyVote?
Yes. MyVote petitions:
What countries have successfully implemented similar systems?
MyVote draws proven examples from several democracies:
These systems prove that digital governance works, improves citizen satisfaction, and reduces costs.
Have any democracies used verified polling?
While MyVote’s specific verified polling model is innovative, continuous referendum/polling systems exist in:
• Switzerland (regular direct democracy votes)
• Italy (citizen consultation platforms)
• Iceland (participatory budgeting with voting)
• Portugal (citizen assemblies on specific issues)
How would MyVote be implemented in the United States?
The book proposes a phased rollout:
How long would this take to implement?
The book doesn’t specify exact timelines but references Estonia’s 20+ year development of X-Road. Full implementation would likely take years, but benefits could begin immediately as services are added.
Who would pay for MyVote?
MyVote would be funded by government (your tax dollars) rather than private companies. Funding mechanisms might include:
• Federal grants for core X-Road infrastructure.
• State appropriations for state-level services.
• Redirected funds from current duplicative government IT spending.
• Elimination of expensive contractor integrations currently required.
Unlike current systems, MyVote would likely be cheaper than maintaining dozens of incompatible legacy systems.
What are the biggest obstacles to implementation?
The book suggests several obstacles:
• Legacy system compatibility challenges
• Organizational resistance from government agencies
• Privacy concerns (requiring strong safeguards)
• Political resistance from those benefiting from current inaccessibility
• Technical challenges in coordinating between agencies
• Initial funding requirements
• Education effort to get citizens to use it
Would MyVote replace existing government websites?
No. MyVote is a unified interface layer. Existing agency systems remain in place; MyVote just makes them talk to each other and provides a better user experience. Agencies keep control of their data.
Is MyVote surveillance?
No, but this requires explanation:
• Civic participation is NOT private: When you vote, participate in town halls, or comment on public issues, those actions are appropriately part of the public record.
• Your private information IS protected: What you search for, what benefits you access, what health conditions you have—these remain private.
• You control access: You decide what information gets shared with whom.
• Law enforcement needs warrants: Except in specific emergency circumstances, police need court approval to access your data.
• Automatic notifications: You’re alerted when your data is accessed.
How is MyVote different from China’s Social Credit system?
China’s system:
• Tracks every purchase, movement, conversation
• Assigns obedience scores that affect your ability to work, travel, educate children
• Punishes dissent and political speech
• Completely opaque
• Government controls all access
MyVote:
• Tracks only civic participation
• No scores or punishments for viewpoints
• Complete transparency (you see all access)
• Citizens control their information
• Government needs warrants to access
The difference between a democratic civic platform and an authoritarian surveillance state.
What about my medical information and other sensitive data?
MyVote integrates medical records but only:
• With your explicit permission
• For your access and your authorized healthcare providers
• With complete encryption
• Under HIPAA protections
• With audit trails showing who accessed what
Your choice—not MyVote’s choice.
Can employers see what I searched for on MyVote?
No. MyVote separates civic participation from personal information:
• Your searches are private
• Your benefit applications are private
• Your health information is private
• Only verified civic actions (voting, public comments) are part of the public record
Why would government officials cooperate with MyVote?
Several incentives:
• Reduced costs: Consolidating services saves government money.
• Improved efficiency: Digital systems reduce manual work.
• Accountability pressure: As citizens see performance metrics, those who resist improvement look bad.
• Political benefit: Being responsive looks good at election time.
• Legal requirements: Laws could mandate adoption.
• Constituent pressure: Citizens wanting better services would demand it.
Wouldn’t powerful lobbying interests block MyVote?
Potentially. The book argues that:
• Current lobbying power depends on access asymmetry (lobbyists have it, citizens don’t).
• MyVote equalizes access, making lobbying less effective.
• This creates incentive to block it.
• But public pressure and technological momentum could overcome resistance.
The book is partly a call for precisely this kind of pressure.
Could MyVote be used to manipulate elections?
MyVote’s design specifically prevents this:
• Open-source code for public audit.
• Cryptographic verification allowing independent checks.
• Paper trails for audits.
• Distributed systems preventing single points of failure.
• Verified polling showing public sentiment in real-time.
• Anomaly detection flagging suspicious patterns.
Could any system be manipulated?
Maybe. But MyVote is designed with transparency that makes manipulation visible.
Isn’t biometric authentication invasive?
The author argues it’s less invasive than the alternative:
• Current system: Your data is duplicated across dozens of vulnerable databases.
• MyVote system: Your biometric data stays on your device; only encrypted tokens are transmitted.
• Result: Fewer places your data can be compromised.
What about people who don’t have smartphones?
MyVote includes:
• Alternative verification methods at public libraries and government offices.
• Accessibility accommodations for disabilities.
• Multilingual support.
• Assisted access for those needing help.
The goal is inclusion, not digital exclusion.
Could foreign governments interfere with MyVote?
MyVote’s design makes this harder:
• Biometric authentication prevents creating fake accounts (they can’t pass facial recognition).
• Open-source code allows detection of backdoors.
• Distributed architecture prevents single points of compromise.
• Real-time anomaly detection catches unusual patterns.
• This is why Estonia’s X-Road withstood Russian cyberattacks.
Won’t MyVote concentration of civic functions create a single point of failure?
MyVote is designed as:
• A user interface, not a centralized database.
• Built on X-Road’s distributed architecture.
• With multiple independent backups.
• Open-source code allowing security analysis.
• Multiple authentication methods.
• Regular security audits.
Failure of one component wouldn’t bring down the entire system.
Why does the author call it “billionaire-proof” democracy?
The author argues that current government inaccessibility is a feature, not a bug:
• It benefits wealthy interests (lobbyists, corporations).
• It discourages citizen participation.
• It allows politicians to ignore constituents while serving donors.
• MyVote disrupts this by making government equally accessible to all.
How does MyVote address political polarization?
By providing:
• Verified information: Reducing misinformation that drives wedges.
• Verified polling: Showing actual constituent sentiment, not media narratives.
• Transparent representatives: Making it clear when politicians misrepresent their districts.
• Authentic community: Authenticated accounts prevent toxic anonymous harassment.
• Productive engagement: When conversations aren’t drowned out by bots and trolls.
It doesn’t solve polarization, but it removes manipulation that amplifies division.
Is this a system for direct democracy or representative democracy?
Both. MyVote strengthens representative democracy by:
• Making representatives accountable
• Giving constituents direct access
• Using verified polling to inform representatives
MyVote also enables participatory elements:
• Participatory budgeting
• Petition systems
• Referendums and initiatives
The goal is a hybrid: representatives informed by continuous citizen input.
How does MyVote relate to Star Trek’s vision of the future?
The author references Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a future society where:
• People of Earth have evolved beyond the need for oil and resource wars.
• Technology serves human flourishing
• Transparent institutions maintain trust
• Equal participation is possible for all
MyVote is presented as achieving some of these ideals through a better civic operating system.
What’s the ultimate goal?
From the book’s conclusion: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
MyVote aims to restore that promise by making government actually responsive to citizens rather than captured by wealthy interests, and by proving that with modern technology, this is achievable.
Where can I find the MyVote video demo?
The 5-minute video demo is available at the MyVoteGov.org website, which summarizes electronic governance concepts concisely.
Where can I get more information?
• Website: MyVoteGov.org
• Substack newsletter: myvotegov.substack.com
• Bluesky social: @MyVoteGov.bsky.social
• The MyVote book: Detailed explanation of all systems and implementation approaches
Is this open-source?
The author proposes MyVote be developed as open-source with public code review for security and transparency.
How can I get involved?
The book is presented as an invitation to build MyVote collectively. The author is seeking:
• Investors to fund development
• Developers and technologists
• Policy experts
• Security researchers
• Government officials interested in implementation
• Citizens who believe democratic reform is necessary
Is MyVote realistic?
The evidence suggests yes:
• Proven technology (X-Road works in Estonia for 20+ years).
• Proven governance models (Taiwan, Iceland, Singapore all use similar approaches).
• Proven citizen engagement (participatory budgeting works in multiple countries).
• Proven security (Estonia withstood cyberattacks).
The barriers are political and financial, not technical.
Will MyVote solve all political problems?
No. The author is clear: “Maybe it won’t save the world.” But MyVote addresses core structural problems:
• Inaccessible government services
• Lack of representative accountability
• Information manipulation
• Citizen disengagement
Fixing these wouldn’t solve all political disagreements, but it would make enable a functional democracy.
What if I disagree with how MyVote would work?
The book is presented as a starting point for discussion, not a final blueprint. Different jurisdictions might implement their system differently. Citizens and policymakers should debate and modify the proposals.
The core ideas that might be debated:
• Balance between direct and representative democracy
• What transparency is appropriate vs. privacy concerns
• How to structure authentication to prevent abuse
• Funding mechanisms
• Implementation timeline
• Role of technology companies
This FAQ is based on the book
“MyVote: How to Billionaire-Proof Democracy with Electronic Governance.”
For more details, explore the book’s chapters on specific systems and implementation approaches.
