About Us.
BeAbsentee.org is a team of volunteers working to change the voting narrative in the United States of America. Gone are the days when it makes sense for every member of the community to march to the polls on one day to cast their ballot. The internet generation(s) live a lifestyle that makes absentee voting by mail a more practical method of participating in democracy.
BeAbsentee.org exists to make Absentee Voting information easy to access for all internet using citizens.
Now for History:
Aaron Bacon did a Google search of absentee voting and discovered the most horrible thing in the world – the information was not easily accessible over the internet. As of April 2008, no website conveniently informed voters of how to vote absentee. This spawned what is now a 150+ page website, a seven member BeAbsentee development team, and soon, a change in the way America looks at voting
Who is BeAbsentee?
Aaron Bacon - Founder, Director
Heather Johnson - Content Developer, Communication Strategist
Elaina Natario - Creative Director
Alexandra Pearson - Content Developer
Randi Heylek - Communications Strategist
Kelly Tuke - Outreach Leader
Chris Boutilier - Political Content Specialist
Does BeAbsentee have Advisors?
Yes, we have a board of advisors,
Larry Irving – Mr. Irving is the President and CEO of the Irving Information Group, a consulting firm providing strategic advice and assistance both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Prior to founding the Irving Information Group, Mr. Irving served for almost seven years as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Adam J Smith – Adam is the Executive Director of the Vote By Mail Project, which he founded to better organize advocates of the Vote By Mail system used by Oregon, Washington, and increasingly, California, Montana, and Colorado.
Maura Colleton Corbett – Ms. Corbett is a partner at Qorvis Communications, leading the company’s technology public affairs practice. Corbett brings unique and deep-rooted experience in industry coalition building for a number of high-technology matters, most recently, Net Neutrality and copyright reform for the digital age.
Jonah Seiger – Jonah is the Founder and Managing Partner of Connections Media, Jonah has conceived and managed winning Interactive communications programs for some of America’s most influential issue groups. Jonah also serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at the George Washington University.
Vijay Raghavan – Mr. Raghavan is Director of Social Media at Qorvis Communnications, working with online networking, mobile connectivity, blogging and other emerging communications technologies. Raghavan was also named one of the “Top 40 PR Professionals Under 40” by PRWeek Magazine—the youngest person to ever receive this honor.
Timothy Karr – Mr. Karr oversees all campaigns and online outreach for the Free Press organization. Before joining Free Press, Mr. Karr served as executive director of MediaChannel.org and vice president of Globalvision New Media and the Globalvision News Network.
Philip J. Maggi - Mr. Maggi is a Vice-President at mCapitol Management. Before working mCapital he worked as Counsel to Congresswoman Nancy Johnson (R-CT), and later to Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), where he spearheaded a variety of technology and telecommunications initiatives before the Administration, Congress, and the Federal Communications Commission, including reform of the Universal Service Fund, deployment of high-speed Internet to rural America and reexamination of the rules governing media-ownership in America.
Dr. Linda Gallant – Dr. Gallant is the Graduate Program Director and Assistant Professor at Emerson College. Her teaching and research interests include the application of research methods to social computing and the maximization of information and communication technology (ICT) to advance human communication in multiple contexts – healthcare, politics, and the workplace. She is published in Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Academic Exchange Quarterly, Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, First Monday, and e-Service Journal.
Dr. J. Gregory Payne - Dr. Payne is an author, speechwriter and expert on political communication, ethics, and docudrama. He is the author of Tom Bradley: The Impossible Dream, Mayday: Kent State, and the play Kent State: A Requiem. Dr. Payne is on the editorial boards of The Quarterly Journal of Speech, the Journal of Health Communication, and the Southern Speech Journal.
Who funds BeAbsentee?
BeAbsentee.org largely functions with volunteered time and resources.
The costs of hosting and high level tech development have been picked up by the Emerson College Communications, Politics, and Law Association.