Washington State to Allow Voter Registration on Facebook

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Thumbs up — we like it. Washington state voters will soon be able to register to vote on Facebook. The secretary of state's office announced it will post an application on its elections Facebook page as early as next week, the Associated Press reported. People will be able to "like" the app and recommend it to friends. 

Like nine other states, Washington already allows citizens to register as a voter online. The upcoming Facebook app will allow people to access registration through Facebook and it will pre-fill many parts of the registration using information from people's Facebook profiles. Users will still need to key in their driver's license or state ID number. That extra data goes directly to the state and Facebook will not collect it, Shane Hamlin, the co-director of elections in Washington, told the Associated Press. 

"In this age of social media and more people going online for services, this is a natural way to introduce people to online registration and leverage the power of friends on Facebook to get more people registered," Hamlin told the Associated Press. 

Source: Associated Press

This story was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

Live Science Staff
Live Science Staff
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