Ask HN: Are there any startups that work on improving or reinventing democracy? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Are there any startups that work on improving or reinventing democracy?

4 pointsbrisky10 comments

If "startup" is defined as a for-profit company, then I'm not aware of any. There are non-profit organizations that work on alternative voting (Approval voting [0] and STAR voting [1] and Instant Run-off/Rank Choice), non-partisan primaries, non-partisan districting, proportional representation (no districts), electoral college reform.

[0] https://electionscience.org/

[1] https://www.starvoting.us/

Thanks, this is helpful

If OP is looking for a high-impact way to work on this problem while also receiving some pay, The Center for Election Science is hiring a director of operations and outreach: https://electionscience.org/ces-updates/were-hiring-a-direct...

They’re entirely remote and use Discord, which has been neat to see as a supporter.

(Disclosure: Although I’m not affiliated with the group, I’m a big fan and I’m co-leading the campaign to adopt approval voting in Seattle. In a sense, I’ve chosen to advocate for this change without pay, so I’m very biased!)

Valley mentality.

Everything is solved with an app

Maybe not solved, but improved. We have technology to give people a better way to express their democratic voice. Without innovation the democratic process becomes stale and broken. That is what we see today.

Nonprofits are startup-like. You are just not going to get that six figure salary you are accustomed to. At least not til you reach the c-suite.

Not everything can be solved by a startup.

Probably some nontraditional nonprofits but they're likely to be classified as "Terrorist organizations" by those who disagree with their goals... Defnitely a higher risk investment.

Yes, probably too many. Check AngelList.

The main improvement to democracy was liberalism (the belief that individual rights trump majority rule). Is there an app for that?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com