If we want to have a say in how our tax dollars are spent, we need to have a say in who represents us.

Fortunately, we do have a say in who represents us – in theory, at least. In practice, a majority of Americans of voting age don’t have any role in determining their representation. According to the Census Bureau, just 37 percent of eligible voters actually voted in the 2010 midterm elections. Frankly, that stinks.

At TurboVote, we’re trying to change that. TurboVote is an online voting tool that gives the voting process the same accessibility that National Priorities Project brings to the federal budget. TurboVote keeps you up-to-date about all elections – local, state, and national – and provides a seamless way to register to vote and request an absentee ballot. All that you’ve got to do is sign the completed forms TurboVote provides and put them in the mail using TurboVote’s prepaid, pre-addressed envelopes.

Our goal at TurboVote is to make voting as easy as renting a DVD from Netflix, and that has the potential to radically increase voter turnout.

The clear and enlightening information National Priorities Project published in A People’s Guide to the Federal Budget makes it easier than ever to understand our country’s spending. National Priorities Project envisions an open and participatory federal budgeting process. Our team at TurboVote is also working on making the budgeting process participatory; TurboVote’s tools for accessible voting make it easier than ever to have your say in how our budget gets made.

Ben Sobel is partnerships associate at TurboVote. TurboVote is a service provided by Democracy Works, Inc., a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization devoted to improving civic engagement through the use of technology.