Kathryn Peters is a co-founder of Democracy Works, an organization that brings the awesomeness of the Internet to the process of voting. Her belief in better democracy has taken her from campaign organizing in rural Missouri to a master’s in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government to political rights monitoring with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Kathryn’s previous experience in civic and government technology includes work for the United Nations Department of Safety and Security and the National Democratic Institute. She has been honored as one of Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” in the field of law and policy, and as a “Champion of Democracy” by the National Priorities Project.
Code for America
How Democracy Works Is Innovating Government from the Outside In
A federal election is one of the most logistically challenging business models you can imagine: it’s a business that’s open only one day a year, staffed almost entirely by temps (practically volunteers) with limited advance training. Would-be customers have to sign up days or weeks in advance, but everything is still first-come, first-serve. Oh, and there’s zero margin for error. No wonder the election administrator’s prayer is “Lord, let this election not be close.”
