WASHINGTON, Wash. — As voter turnout in the U.S. stalks new records, a Toronto entrepreneur is hoping his new app will help ease the anxiety that comes with casting a ballot in 2020.
Users of the app, called Glimpse Social, look on a U.S. map for the polling station they hope to visit, then drop a “pin” to indicate they’re looking for information.
Other users who are already at the location can then upload short videos to answer queries about the length of the lineup or whether people are wearing face masks.
Glimpse Social founder Jonathan Baldock says the more people who use the app, the better it works.
Baldock says for the next 12 months, any profits beyond development and deployment costs will be donated to COVID-19 relief and racial-justice causes.
More than 60.5 million ballots have already been cast in advance of the Nov. 3 election, according to the Florida-based U.S. Elections Project — 20 million of them in person.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2020.
James McCarten, The Canadian Press
