Stump

I know everyone is so excited to talk politics with their family at Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd share this with the world. Over the last couple of weeks, I've spent a lot of time chatting with folks that ran for local office around the country. There are a TON of big hurdles at the starting line for new candidates. Especially: - Getting on the ballot. This often requires gathering hundreds (sometimes thousands) of signatures from registered voters in the territory you are running in. This can take weeks. Usually you need to collect 150% of the minimum since a good portion of the signatures get invalidated. Many local candidates end up running as write-ins because they entered the race late and didn't meet the signature requirement. - Building a digital presence. I can barely do design, SEO, and setup an integrated system of links and webforms myself. How do you think a non-digital native candidate fares here? About a third of the candidates that ran for office near me either didn't have a website that discussed their platform, or even a website at all (excluding Facebook). - Finding volunteers. It takes a lot of people to effectively run the ground game, knock on doors, hand out lawn signs, and generally be visible in the community. This is especially difficult if people don't even know you are running for office because you don't have a website or your Facebook campaign page has 37 followers... A common thread from the candidates that I spoke to was that they "got lucky" from having a neighbor that served as mayor and guided them through the process, or a friend that did design and web work for them. But it made me think about all the prospective candidates that aren't so lucky and stayed on the sideline. These folks need a nudge. A way to neutralize some of these barriers to entry with basic tools and creates forward momentum. That is the first of many problems that Stump is aiming to solve. I am optimistic that a location-based platform which helps bring campaigns to life and eliminates the friction for voters in learning about who/what is on their ballot will supplant the fragmented and polarized distribution channels we live with today. I'm non-technical and built this myself, so I know it is an abomination right now. I'm definitely open to any feedback you are willing to share, and would be stoked if you'd like to collaborate on this. I'll need all the help I can get -- there are 100K elected offices up for grabs in 2025!

hey all the best with your launch

looks cool, is this only for the US or can we use it at other places?

Congrats on launching Stump! This sounds like a fresh take on local politics. How do you plan to get more candidates involved and boost turnout?