For any democratic nation, people are at the centre of the system. Only through people’s vote, the outcome of any election is determined. But a lot of people don’t vote either because they do have enough time to learn about the candidates or because they are not sure who to believe.
Fortunately, there are many apps available which can keep you updated with all the information regarding the U.S. Presidential elections of 2016. These apps will inform you about the candidates and different political parties. They also allow you to keep your opinion and make your vote count in the 2016 presidential election and beyond.
Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, you cannot come up with an excuse for being in the dark about political affairs anymore, due to these Smartphone apps.
More than a dozen candidates are running for president. Here is the list of candidates running for the presidential election 2016:
- Republicans: Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Jim Gilmore, John Kasich, Macro Rubio, Donald Trump, Rick Santorum
- Democrats: Hilary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders
- Third Party: Gary Johnson, Jill Stein
An informed citizen is really valuable from a social viewpoint, so every American with a Smartphone should have one of the following Election apps and use the power provided by the constitution.
Voter
Picking a candidate can be really tough, especially when you don’t have enough knowledge about each running candidate. As a result, you probably end up voting the most talked about candidate for your party.
Voter app is to the rescue. All you need to do is answer a few questions in “Yes” or “No” by swiping left or right and this app will tell you which candidate has similar opinions as yours. Various speeches, records, public stances and finances are analyses for each candidate and the result is displayed on your screen. This app is similar to the dating app – Tinder; it will help you meet your dream election candidate within a minute.
May be political leaders might not like this app, as they want to vote on the basis of their projected persona, rather than their stance and records.
2016 Election Central
Staying updated with all the news on a busy schedule might be tough. One has to go through several websites and apps to do that.
But, Election Central can be a one-stop shop for you if you wish to stay updated with all the campaign activities. It has a list of election-related news, which can be sorted according to your preference. It also provides a platform where you can discuss your opinions and participate in many debates.
It delivers all the primary information like the schedule of election. It also notifies you with debate schedule and videos. If you need every detail, well-organized in a single place, this app is the one for you.
This app is available for free on Android and iOS platforms. However, this app may get on your nerves with ads popping now and then, as there is no pro version available to get rid of the ads.
Crooks and Liars
The name itself suggests that this is no boring politics app. Crooks and Liars has a sense of humor and is not limited to the presidential election news.
This app is a general political app, but under its Latest news section, it covers all the recent updates about the presidential election. This app is kind of a political blog or you can say vlog. Crooks and Liars was the first to feature video blogs or vlogs.
This app is frequently updated with news and notifies you with it if and only if you keep the notifications on. It also provides you with the podcasts to listen to (if that’s your thing).
But, this app usually has a tendency to redirect you to some external source to read the complete news story. So, if you don’t mind being redirected frequently and want some general updates on politics along with the election news, this could be the app for you.
RANQ
Shift Interactive created RANQ with the help of IBM’s supercomputer Watson and Bluemix development platform. This app ranks candidates on the basis of real time Twitter discussions.
Sentiments are always linked with people, may it be positive, negative or neutral. And somehow, politics always bring out people’s sentiments. This app will rank the running candidates on the basis of people’s tweets. It includes all the running candidates from the Republican as well as the Democratic party. You can also sort updates for a single party which you follow.
“Sentiment rating” of people’s tweets are calculated by Watson using complex algorithms. Users can view which candidate is trending on a particular day by clicking on a specific candidate. Tweets related to candidates are also visible to the user. You can narrow down the ratings from nationwide to your specific state.
Countable
Countable is an app that will allow the users to present their opinions on a general issue. It will also keep you informed regarding the arguments for and against the subject.
Countable lets make your opinion count and let you track the congressional representatives. This app makes it easy to understand the actual legislation. It will provide you with the tools that will enable you to see how the elected officials vote.
It discusses all the issues and policies that affect the daily life of citizens. This app is a must-have if you want to search for the candidate who has a similar opinion as yours and is willing to solve such issues.
Countable is also accessible on the Web, if you do not want to download the app.
Sidewire
To wrap things we’ve got Sidewire app. This app gives the updates straight from the horse’s mouth. You can get information directly from the campaigns, elected officials, journalists, and political experts.
You may wonder that this app will make it worse to pick the candidate as most of the candidates are biased, hopefully not. This app will probably provide you with the unfiltered bias from the running candidates.
Sidewire has gathered more than 100 political journalists, candidates, analysts, campaign managers and some elected officials who curate the content on the platform.
If you have used above-mentioned Voter app, this app will be a lot relevant to you. Matchmaking with the candidates based on your opinions is surely something you shouldn’t miss. This app is currently available on iOS platform.
Additionally, there are many apps from the running candidates, which are used as their official campaign app. For instance, Rand Paul 2016 app allows the user to take selfie with Rand Paul, also they can share the details with their friends regarding the campaign. They can also play some arcade game in which they have to blast campaign logos of other candidates. Ted Cruz also has his campaign apps for iOS and Android platforms.
 It might be possible that you come across some biased campaigns or platforms, but have your opinion and stand for it. Some apps may allow you to know your friend’s opinion, but make sure your vote is not influenced by anything.
Presidential election or App election? With all these apps available, you first need to pick your app before picking your candidate.
