Google Is Interested In Electronic Balloting

Google Just Filed a Patent to Run Elections in Its Search Results

Kirsty Styles | February 17, 2016

Google tests and abandons many ideas – but each project it takes the time to look at gives you some window into a future world where it’s running increasingly varied aspects of our lives.
Now it’s looking at voting systems. A patent has been filed for a ‘Voter User Interface’ that can be embedded within search results and linked to the social media accounts of relevant “contestants.”

SUMMARY 

This specification relates to supporting voting-based campaigns in search. 

Implementations of the present disclosure are generally directed to selectively providing a voting user interface (VUI) with search results. In some implementations, the VUI is associated with a voting-based campaign, and a user can interact with the VUI to participate in the voting-based campaign. 

In general, innovative aspects of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include actions of determining that a voting user interface (VUI) is to be provided with search results, the VUI enabling a user to submit one or more votes in a voting-based campaign; receiving social content, the social content having been distributed using one or more social networking services; receiving search results that are responsive to a search query; and transmitting instructions to display the search results and the VUI, the VUI including the social content. 

Other implementations of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices. 

Source: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=39&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&s1=Google.ASNM.&p=1&OS=AN/Google&RS=AN/Google

<more at http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/02/17/google-just-filed-a-patent-to-run-elections-in-its-search-results/#gref; related links: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/e-voting-electronic-voting (e-voting (electronic voting). March 2011) and http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=39&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&s1=Google.ASNM.&p=1&OS=AN/Google&RS=AN/Google (United States Patent 9,262,882, Judd, et al. February 16, 2016. [Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, determining that a voting user interface (VUI) is to be provided with search results, the VUI enabling a user to submit one or more votes in a voting-based campaign; receiving social content, the social content having been distributed using one or more social networking services; receiving search results that are responsive to a search query; and transmitting instructions to display the search results and the VUI, the VUI comprising the social content.])>