#electnext

"If you're like most Americans, you've known for some time which presidential candidate you plan to vote for on Tuesday. Through all the debates, the flip-flops, and the gaffes, there's a good chance you've never seriously questioned your choice, which likely coincides with your party affiliation. Perhaps your personal feelings toward the candidates played a role too. And of course there are probably one or more policy issues about which you feel quite strongly.

But what if you had approached the election, from the outset, purely as a question of which candidate's policy stances align most closely with your own views? Would you have settled on the same candidate?

Are you sure?"

"Election Day is creeping up. Fortunately, Google has made it easy to find your nearest polling place and the candidates representing your registered address. The newly launched Voter Info tool pinpoints Election Day essentials and elegantly displays them on top of Google maps.

For those voters who still need to figure out how they’re voting on local candidates and ballot propositions. Here are a few resources."

"Philadelphia's ElectNext has grown membership by 1,000 percent for four straight months. Having partnered with 40 media sites and secured more than $750,000 in investments, the civic-engagement startup is moving fast to keep up with upcoming federal elections and their own ambitions. They are hiring data scientists and engineers."

"With only 26 days left until Nov.6, it’s prime time for presidential election watchers and news junkies.

Here are five tools from the Washington Post graphics and politics teams you can use to track ad spending, campaign visits, issue positions and electoral chances."

"DEMO Fall 2012 wrapped up in Santa Clara today, where 77 startups took the stage to show off their apps, services and products. The young companies were given six minutes to pitch their ideas and impress the audience, collectively competing for the $1 million advertising prize that went to the idea with the most promise.

From a bird identification app and an “Internet of Things” to apartment finders and augmented reality, here are the 14 startups that stood out from the pack during the three-day launch event."

"Out of the 77 companies that demonstrated their products at this week’s DEMO conference, only five won the coveted DEMO God award. These startups don’t only have great businesses, but were awesome on stage."