AP20:105
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 27, 2020
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575
California Secretary of State’s Office Adds Amazon Alexa Voice Skill to its California Elections Toolkit
SACRAMENTO, CA – In an ongoing effort to make elections more accessible, the California Secretary of State’s Office has collaborated with Amazon Web Services and VoiceXP on an Amazon Alexa skill that provides any user with an Alexa-enabled device access to California elections information.
“Promoting civic participation starts by providing voters easy access to elections information,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “A California elections specific skill on Amazon Alexa-enabled devices provides voters with the resources they need to participate in our democracy.”
Voice assistant technology is a critical step to extending easy access to official election information to Californian voters with disabilities. This innovative project is deploying in time to help all voters participate in the General Election on November 3rd.
To use the California Elections skill, a user must tell any Alexa device: “Alexa, enable the California Elections skill.” Then users can simply ask any Alexa-enabled device a question about California elections. For example:
- “Alexa, ask California Elections… where is my polling place?”
- “Alexa, ask California Elections… what time do the polls close?”
- “Alexa, ask California Elections… what are the election results?”
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