smartvote International

smartvote is an innovative online platform, which matches voters to candidates and parties that share their policy positions. Founded by Politools in 2003, smartvote has informed voters in over 350 elections throughout Switzerland and around the world.

HOW SMARTVOTE WORKS

1. Candidates & Parties	2. Voters	3. Matching
Candidates & parties answer questions on a wide range of current policy issues.	Voters answer the same questions on the smartvote website.	Voters receive a ranked list of candidates & parties that best match their political profile.

The organization combines both transparency and accountability through its professionalism and partnerships with competent experts in political science and information technology. Politools strictly follows the Lausanne Declaration on Voting Advice Applications and indeed goes above and beyond it’s standards for impartiality and transparenecy.

VAAs and smartvote in particular can play an important role in election campaigns. Scientific research has shown that VAAs have a positive effect on democratization and good governance.

Contributions to democratization & civic education

Voter Mobilization & Engagement	Issue-Based Discourse	Candidate Transparency
smartvote has been shown to increase political participation and voter turnout, and encourage citizens’ interest and engagement in politics. => Source	smartvote promotes an issue-based discourse by focusing on differences in policy positions, not ideology or character. => Source	smartvote allows voter’s to learn about candidates’ positions on a wide range of important policy issues, therefore building a more informed and engaged electorate. => Source

Politools is a non-profit and non-partisan organization based in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. We pride ourselves on consistent transparency and scientifically based methods. Our team is made up of political scientists, specialized in E-democracy, big data analysis, and journalism, and supported by a local, innovative IT company (Zeilenwerk).

Key facts about smartvote

• Used by 1 in 5 voters in Switzerland
• Achieves up to 85% candidate participation
• Hosted over 350 elections at the local, regional, national & international level (in Switzerland, Australia, Luxembourg, Austria and Kosovo as well as for the European Union and others)
• We have over 15 years of experience in helping voters find candidates and parties that share their positions! 

References

“The next crucial reform is to help voters make informed choices … Switzerland offers the best example of the next step: its smartvote system presents a list of policy choices with which you can agree or disagree, then compares your answers with the policies of the parties and candidates contesting the election. It produces a graphic showing whose position most closely matches your interests.”
George Monbiot in the Guardian, January 25, 2017

Team

• Daniel Schwarz; since 2003 (founding member)
• Jan Fivaz; since 2003 (founding member)
• Michael Erne; since 2010
• Carine Hunziker; since 2018

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