Xboxes being used to influence U.S. Election

Xbox Live is being used to encourage young Americans to register to vote.

American youth are being encouraged to vote by allowing users to download voter registration forms through Xbox Live.

Around 55,000 voter registration forms have been downloaded in a joint campaign between Microsoft and youth-focused voting group Rock The Vote, which focuses on using music and popular culture to inspire young people to vote. Voting, unlike Australia, is not compulsory, but voters must register to vote before polling day.

The uptake of forms allowed for organisers to run an opinion poll which received over 110,000 votes comparing the Democratic and Republican candidates. Senator Obama and his vice-president, Joe Biden, were preferred to Senator McCain and Sarah Palin.

The campaign also aims to deliver information on candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to a group of voters considered to be poorly represented in Presidential elections. Using technology like this could make youth a powerful voting bloc in the race for the White House come Novemeber.

Source: Gamasutra