Whenever an issue is being debated in Congress, interest groups, and maybe even your friends will urge you to "contact your representative."
But those bills can be hard to understand. And finding out how to properly convey your opinion to your rep can be even harder.
Now there's an app that aims to help with both of those issues. It's called "Countable" and it's exploded in popularity over the last week.
You can download Countable on the app store or at their website
Take Two's A Martinez spoke with Bart Myers, the CEO of the start-up behind the app, to find out more.
We take this crazy overwhelming sense of what's happening in Washington and Congress today and we really bring it down to a level that you can quickly understand. We give you a way to take action on it. So you can click on any story and you can vote. You can talk to your lawmaker. That marriage of news and action has been I think part of what's made Countable so popular right now. People are looking for that understanding, but they're also looking for a way to go beyond that understanding to be able to feel like they have a little bit of a say.
On how Countable lets you get in touch with lawmakers
You can send an e-mail, make a phone call, post to social media. And we are the only product out there where you can record and send a video message. The video message I think gets the core of what [California Congressional Representative Adam Schiff] is saying. The idea behind the video is that the lawmaker can actually see you and actually hear you. In most cases with a phone call or an email or even a letter, they're very distant from the actual constituents. The video gives them the power of that impassioned communication.
You can show the pothole down the street, you can show the classroom that you'd like to see increased funding for. The power of video is so much greater than just me to the lawmaker. It can be us to the lawmaker, it can be this issue. You can really bring it home in a way no one's been able to do before.
On preserving someone privacy as well as their politics within the app
On one hand, your communication to your lawmaker is private and confidential between you and them. One the other hand ... Countable is a community. You can express your opinion you can vote on issues, you can lobby others to do the same. But you can do that either confidentially and privately you can o it publicly as yourself or you can do it as whoever you want. you can come up with your own avatar and name. We've really figured out a great way to ensure that privacy while at the same time giving people the opportunity to contribute to that civic space.
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.