密歇根新闻广播 让美国年轻一代更容易参与政治

Millennials are the largest generation in America, making up an entire third of the population.

They're also the least likely to vote.

A report from Tufts University says that less than 20% of people age 18 to 29 voted in the 2014 election.

Andrew Koehlinger wants to do something about that. He's the project director for VoteSpotter, an app that seeks to get younger voters engaged in the politics.

"Vote Spotter in its simplest form is simply a nonpartisan tool that empowers citizens to get involved in the political process in a new way, in a way that they couldn't have done it before, by just simply tapping a few times on their mobile phone," Koehlinger says.

He explains that the app asks users for their address and tells them who their legislators are.

"That's step one, is simply getting people to understand who is representing them," he says.

Koehlinger tells us the app then sends users "timely notifications and simple, concise¹ bill summaries" that explain how their representatives are voting.

Users can "thumbs up or thumbs down" their legislators' actions, and even call or email their representatives directly from within the app.

Koehlinger tells us that VoteSpotter is an attempt to revolutionize political engagement the same way companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Uber have transformed shopping, social interaction, and transportation.

"It just seems only natural that we should try and converge² technology and politics to make it a lot easier for people to engage in the public policy process," he says.

1 concise   

adj.简洁的，简明的

参考例句：

• The explanation in this dictionary is concise and to the point.这部词典里的释义简明扼要。
• I gave a concise answer about this.我对于此事给了一个简要的答复。

2 converge   

vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近

参考例句：

• The results converge towards this truth.其结果趋近于这个真理。
• Parallel lines converge at infinity.平行线永不相交。