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Glen McLeod-Thorpe
26 Aug, 2008

Xbox Live allows voters to register for U.S. election

360 News | Microsoft and Rock the Vote announce a surprising partnership.
In further proof that the gaming industry is increasingly becoming a part of everyday society, Xbox 360 owners in the U.S. are being given the opportunity to register to vote in their upcoming presidential election via the Xbox Live online service.

Rock the Vote, a non-government organisation established to engage youth in the political process, has teamed up with Microsoft to develop an initiative that allows Xbox 360 gamers to register to vote, take part in polls and voice their opinions to candidates via online forums. While the service became available on Monday August 25, registered voters will still be required to attend a polling booth on election day.

'Xbox is a natural partner to help us reach out to youth voters,' said Heather Smith, executive director, Rock the Vote. 'To realize our goal of registering 2 million young Americans by this fall, we need to go where young Americans are, and there's no doubt in our minds that many are on Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE.'

Whether the service will be widely utilised remains to be seen but if it does take-off, the potential implications for politics and society generally are promising.

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10 Comments
1 year ago
How is this in anyway related to PAL territories? There's not even a mention that says 'this service is for US xbox live members, no mention of anything similar being considered for other territories'...

Love the copy/paste news work that's been going on at PALGN lately icon_smile.gif Keep it up boys, soon you can get rid of the site, and just have RSS feeds of US blogs!
1 year ago
If copy / paste is the order of the day, at the very least; it's customary to include the source said snippet was gleaned from..
1 year ago
Thanks for your comments Camerooni.

The news piece advises that the service applies to the U.S. election and is for Xbox owners in the U.S. I believe its relevance and interest is due to the wider implications for gaming and society, and potential flow-on effects it might lead to, rather than anything overt about whether a similar enrolment service might become available here.

As far as I'm aware the only way to currently enrol to vote in Australia is by completing a hard-copy enrolment form, therefore speculation about the service being made available in Australia anytime soon seems premature.

Links to both the Rock The Vote site and the press release were included in the original piece.
1 year ago
I think it's interesting.
1 year ago
That's some name you got there glen.
1 year ago
In answer to Cam - how is the president of the USA not relevant to Australia? And how is getting more youth to vote not relevant to the election? Hence, more youth votes directly affects us (probably will be in Obama's favour).

Anyhow, it's an interesting piece of news. I can't see how they can enable voting via xbox, but they can certainly encourage more youth participation.
1 year ago
plus its nteresting news to see XBL is offering sometihng like that. hopefulyl make better use of your 10th post camerooni
1 year ago
Jibbs wrote
That's some name you got there glen.
indeed.

and since i'm sure it's quite uncommon, did you, perchance, attend Kelmie SHS?
if so, what an amazingly small world, i believe i knew you...
(how amazingly stalkerish of me icon_twisted.gif )

i thought there was going to be an "Introducing the New Staff" article or something, and was waiting for that to ask there, but it hasn't materialised (or i just plain missed it) and so might as well ask here.
1 year ago
ObsoletE wrote
and since i'm sure it's quite uncommon, did you, perchance, attend Kelmie SHS?
Mmm, perhaps...though there could be 2 of us?! Ha, have PM'd you.

-GMT
1 year ago
Camerooni wrote
How is this in anyway related to PAL territories? There's not even a mention that says 'this service is for US xbox live members, no mention of anything similar being considered for other territories'...

Love the copy/paste news work that's been going on at PALGN lately Keep it up boys, soon you can get rid of the site, and just have RSS feeds of US blogs!
I thought it was interesting, and this is the only gaming site I read, so personally I'm glad it was there. Some US stuff now and then is okay.
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