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Category: New Media

New video focuses on military voting

New video focuses on military voting

We’ve just finished a cool new video that chronicles efforts on behalf of our office to assist military voters. Watch the video here. Entitled “Serving Those Who Serve – A Guide to Military Voting in Washington State,” the approximately 10 minute video aims to educate military members living in Washington or overseas, a group of voters who represent one of the most mobile demographics. Washington has a large military population, and almost 50,000 registered military voters. The state enjoys a…

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Washington partners with Microsoft & Facebook on MyVote app

Washington partners with Microsoft & Facebook on MyVote app

Now there’s a Facebook app for reaching Washington’s online voter registration tool and “MyVote” service. The app was officially launched on Monday after already drawing considerable advance national attention as a fresh application of social media to draw attention to voter registration and information. The state Elections Division worked with Facebook and Microsoft over the past year to create the new app, which will provide many unregistered Washington residents with a secure, convenient way to register while using Facebook. The…

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Gregoire signs hard-times budget

Gregoire signs hard-times budget

Governor Gregoire has signed a new budget for Washington state, but warns that we aren’t out of the woods yet. The Democratic governor signed the $31 billion spending roadmap Tuesday. Combined with a package of tax increases, the major budget revisions address a $2.8 billion gap that developed as the economy deteriorated after the 2009 legislative session.  A variety of taxes, including an additional $1-a-pack on smokes, taxes on bottled water and candy, and higher business taxes on some services, are…

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Get fast corporations info with new Android app

Get fast corporations info with new Android app

Hey all you Android users: We’ve just completed an Android app that allows you to look up the status of registered Washington corporations from your phone. It’s now available at the Android Market for download under “WA State Corporations Lookup.” This new app is great for business journos who are looking into corporation registrations on the go, or potential clients wanting to get  info on a business, stat. We’re the first state to launch an Android app for corporations services,…

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From Our Corner turns 1

From Our Corner turns 1

We started From Our Corner last winter and, after more than 600 posts, we’ve passed our one-year mark. Over the last 12 months, the blog has really become a major hub of information sharing and activity for the Secretary of State’s Office. We had  48,500 unique visitors check out our blog in our first 12 months – more than the amount of folks it takes to fill Safeco Field! We approved and posted more than 1,000 public comments that met our blog use policy. By far the…

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It’s a … blog!

It’s a … blog!

I was passed along a birth announcement this week from a proud mama – someone over at the Department of Ecology heralding the birth of the agency’s new blog.  It’s called ECOconnect and you might like to read it if you’re into the Great Outdoors and things of the green variety. This is the second agency-of-the-outdoors to spring to life in the last month – Department of Natural Resources started one in May. Folks there are still experimenting with features and…

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Who knew? Our gov is a twitterer

Who knew? Our gov is a twitterer

So Pearse Edwards, Governor Gregoire’s ace communications guy, Facebook-messages us to tell us that Her Hipness is now tweeting. And of course you all knew that Twitter is all the rage now, from the White House to the Statehouse. So far, the gov is just getting set up, but has already tweeted about signing the new Alaskan Way Viaduct bill. We await Twitter missives from @govgregoire.   Of course you can follow @secstatewa for SecState Reed’s updates…

We gotcha wired … in a good way

We gotcha wired … in a good way

Washington, the home of Microsoft and lots of technosavvy people, has been called the nation’s most “wired” state (doubly so with all that java!).  We’re seeing that in campaigns and elections, too.  Last year was the launch of online voter registration (Washington is one of only two states that allow this, AZ being the other.) Candidates can file online, in their jammies at 2 a.m. if they wish. The state and some counties have online Voters’ Pamphlets, and TVW guides are online…

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As the globe turns, Part Deux

As the globe turns, Part Deux

Print reporters are doing audio, video, blogging, online writing, and doing bite-sized uber-fast stories as they transform into this New Media environment.  The Olympian reporters, Adam Wilson and Brad Shannon, regularly include video with their stories. This legislative session, Adam Wilson is doing some hilarious sendups of the whole darned whacky Olympia scene.  Here are three videos, a sort of survivor’s guide to the Legislature …