Can I Vote? – an online tool for spreading the word about local democracy in Finland

In the 2017 local elections, voting turnout was only 23.9 percent among eligible voters whose native language was not Finnish, Swedish or Sami. The overall voting turnout was 57.5 percent. In most cases, people living in Finland can vote regardless of citizenship.

"In 2017, YLE published an infographic with the eligibility criteria online, and it was wildly popular," said Egan Richardson, a journalist at the English language unit at YLE News. "We wanted to make it bigger and better and more effective this time."

Can I Vote? asks a series of questions based on residency status and home address to figure out voting eligibility. It then directs users to a selection of resources that can help inform them about the local elections.

YLE outreach team proposed an idea for raising voting awareness through social media during a course at Aalto University, and through that course Boeun Kim, a student from Aalto Media Lab, was connected to Richardson to collaborate on this project.

The team:
Boeun Kim, Aalto Media Lab – Design Lead
Ukko Alatalo, TAMK – Graphic Design
Mohamed Sallam, TAMK – Web Development
Šimon Lackovič, TAMK – Web Development

Check your voting eligibility here.