NEW YORK, April 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — VoteTocracy, the online citizen voting site for bills in Congress, announced the launch of its new Google Chrome extension. The VoteTocracy extension allows users to view decision makers and bills discussed in news articles and immediately and directly contact government representative without leaving the article.

Once the Chrome extension is installed, users are automatically prompted to place their cursor over the name or bill in an article, enabling a small engagement box to appear. For example, if an article had the names Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Elizabeth Warren or any other Congressmen, those names would be highlighted. From there, users can directly email members of the legislature directly or vote Yes or No on the bill itself. The VoteTocracy extension allows citizens’ voices to be heard, while having a positive, timely impact on legislation.

Recently with the continued migration from offline print to online media, there has been an increase in political interest among Americans. Everyone has an opinion regarding our nation’s problems, however, speaking out on social media sites and utilizing hashtags is not an effective form of advocacy. In fact, “hashtag activism” has no long term impact on serious political and social issues.

Ironically, even as people become more polarized or vocal online about political issues, political participation has been lackluster. Some statistics about voter turnout:

• Only 58% of eligible voters voted in the 2012 presidential election.
• The midterm elections in 2014 garnered the lowest voter turnout since World War II at 36.4%.
• Voter turnout has been consistently falling since the 1964 elections.

A 2008 report by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) found that 200 million messages are sent to Congress every year. Election turnout may be dismal, but the report finding proves that it is not because the public doesn’t care. Until VoteTocracy there has not been a way to measure influence and outcomes. VoteTocracy closes that the loop by holding elected officials accountable; their dashboard measures the effectiveness of Representatives or Senators against an individual’s preferences. This focus on outcomes is what differentiates VoteTocracy. Scoreboards keep track and aggregate sessions to one simplified visual: https://www.votetocracy.com/congressmen/114/scoreboard

“People are frustrated with Congress yet at the same time feel powerless. Approval ratings for Congress are at an all-time low,” says VoteTocracy CEO David Kraljic. “VoteTocracy can provide Americans the opportunity to truly impact our elected officials whose decisions affect our lives.”

“People are most activated about an issue or an action taken by a Senator or Representative when they are consuming media,” continues Kraljic. “They might read an article about a new piece of legislation and be angered or supportive of it. It is at that moment that they need to take action, and the VoteTocracy Chrome extension allows them to do just that.”

For a demo of how the VoteTocracy Chrome extension works, visit https://www.votetocracy.com/browser-extension/

VoteTocracy will also be releasing a Safari and Firefox version of the extension in the near future. The extension is available for download at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/votetocracy/noibadhiddocgldphdjlfgeolemofgmp

About VoteTocracy

VoteTocracy is citizen powered Congress. Citizens and organizations vote on real bills and they tally the results against Congressional outcomes. Founded in 2009, VoteTocracy exists to level Main Street and K Street. For more information, visit www.votetocracy.com