In response to rising concerns over election fraud, especially prevalent during the 2016 presidential and 2018 midterm elections, entrepreneur Johnny Vieira introduced an app named VotifyNow.
This app serves as a platform for users to report suspected irregularities in the voting process, with a goal to enhance transparency and restore confidence in the electoral system.
Founder Johnny Vieira, who embarked on his entrepreneurial journey as a teenager, mentioned in a recent interview with Just the News, “We absolutely encourage anyone to file reports.”
He further emphasized the app’s objective, stating, “Our goal is more transparency. With transparency comes confidence in the system.”
VotifyNow, a product under Vieira Business Ventures, is unique in its operation. Users can submit their concerns, supported by photos or videos.
These submissions are automatically accompanied by geotags and timestamps.
Once the veracity of these reports is confirmed and an incident gets multiple mentions, it’s highlighted on a map using a color-coded dot system.
These colors range from white, signifying a minor concern, to red, indicating a serious issue.
Vieira pointed out that users register based on their county but have the liberty to explore reports from other counties.
He elaborated on one of the practical applications of VotifyNow, suggesting that it can inform voters about vote centers with reported issues, allowing them the choice to vote elsewhere.
He said that incidents are collated in a PDF-style format, which can be swiftly shared with county officials, journalists, and election candidates within roughly 15 minutes of being reported.
The issues that can be reported are not limited to Election Day alone.
In the wake of the 2020 presidential election, there has been an uptick in discussions surrounding ballot harvesting, voting machine discrepancies, and concerns over the chain of custody of ballots.
While acknowledging that the app might not be a panacea for all election-related issues, Vieira believes it can significantly contribute to the solution.
“We’re looking to help people make decisions on real-time information that is vetted as thoroughly as possible,” he said, adding that it can at least “chip away” at existing issues.
VotifyNow already made an impact in the 2022 midterm elections.
For instance, Arizona saw over “8000 VOTER SUPPRESSION incidents from across the country,” with the state contributing to at least 30% of these, as disclosed by VotifyNow on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The 2022 GOP Arizona gubernatorial nominee, Kari Lake, integrated these reports into her election challenge lawsuit, Just the News notes.
Lake’s War Room account on X acknowledged VotifyNow’s contribution, stating, “Here’s more of that evidence you said doesn’t exist.”
To address concerns over the misuse of the app, Vieira clarified that automated bots and false reports are swiftly detected and removed.
He assured that such misleading reports wouldn’t feature on the mapped incidents.
Furthermore, there’s a cap on the number of reports an individual can submit within a specific timeframe.
VotifyNow is more than just a tool for elections.
It offers sections for users to stay updated on city council and school board meetings and even features tools for reporting border concerns and canvassing.
According to the VotifyNow website:
VotifyNow is a FREE intuitive app that helps users strengthen the voting process in their local, state and national elections (not affiliated with a government agency) It’s a tool that will notify voters, party members and volunteers of any election/voter irregularities in their communities based on real time information being entered in by the users. The app can also help users check for and report any mail in ballots issues they are experiencing through an array of Election Integrity tools to help detect and report any suspicious activity back through the app so the users can view. Users can upload a brief description and image or video of what they observe onto the app (always follow state and federal laws and guidelines) where it can be analyzed for patterns of suspicious activity to be investigated further by designated Co- admin users. This information is then also sent back out to all the users in that area so everybody can see these issues. VotifyNow can also help voters/users monitor polling stations… again checking for and reporting any irregularities they observe through the app. And VotifyNow will share information on local, state and national candidates so our users could have the opportunity to learn more about these candidates running in upcoming elections. Furthermore, users can rate the Candidates after learning about their politics. Also, VotifyNow users can now check for upcoming school board and city council meetings to attend and make their voices heard. There is also a section to guide users through the process of Early / Mail in ballot voting. Soon VotifyNow can be used by canvassers updating voter lists while walking their neighborhoods to get out their parties message VotifyNow will continue to roll out expanded features as per our users feedback that we collect All these features and more are available on VotifyNow Available Now for Android and iPhone. (IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL NEW USERS!!!) If you absolutely can’t get the app active on your mobile phone please go to the Report & Contact Us button here on this site or email us at report@votifynow.org to report incident and upload photo, video or docs.
