A couple of weeks we shot a little segment for mtvU for air. They’ve been a big help for the site, so thanks MTV!

Hot off the tail of our Trip to San Franscisco, we’re working hard to get the word out about GoVoteAbsentee. We’ve made a Facebook page and a Myspace page for sharing around (Add them, please!), but just recently we’ve completed an embeddable widget for your website or profile on the internet. We have two versions:

Javascript

This is what the Javascript widget looks like

This version is recommended as it actually gives the viewer the option to put in their zip code for a direct placement into the absentee voting process. Copy the code below, paste it onto your site, and you’re all set.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://govoteabsentee.org/js/gvaWidget.js"></script>

HTML / Image

And, this is what the HTML & Image widget looks like

Although the Javascript widget is the way to go for most people, some sites restrict Javascript on their pages (e.g. Myspace). For this, we’ve created an image & link alternative for users to use elsewhere:

<a href="http://govoteabsentee.org"><img src="http://govoteabsentee.org/images/widgetalt.gif" alt="GoVoteAbsentee.org / learn how to vote absentee!"></a>

In the future, we hope to have a Flash widget, which will work like the Javascript one but will be embeddable in places where Javascript is not (again, Myspace). Keep an eye on the Share with Friends section as we add more there. In the meantime, however, feel free to use these two embeds to share the word about voting absentee.

After a sleepless night and a 6-hour flight, the team is now in San Francisco and the site has been successfully launched! We’re extremely excited for it to get into the hands of the voting public. Because we want to get information out to voters as soon as possible, it meant that we had to skip some user testing before launch. Our information is not affected–we promise that what we tell you is complete and accurate. It may just be harder to access the information than we’d like. This means that there is a chance that you might find a bug on a page in the process–that’s where the link at the top of the page comes. If you’ve encountered something that you don’t think is right, feel free to click the link, type in the problem that’s occurred, and we’ll take a look ASAP. You can consider yourself part of the team.

If you’re curious, we’re in San Francisco this weekend to meet with a few larger web companies (”larger” is an understatement), and while I don’t want to set huge expectations, I think we’ll have a great result come this Wednesday. Plus, I’ll have a chance to take photos and video of our trip so you can learn more about the site, the team, and the future of both!

So, in the meantime, try out the site! Put in your zip code, walk through the steps, and you’ll be well on your way to voting absentee in no time. If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, feel free to reach us at feedback@govoteabsentee.org.