An awesome new website for having a conversation about local issues launched in Amherst today, it’s called Localocracy.

Localocracy gives you a non-partisan place where you can easily see what registered voters in town think about an issue, rank those opinions as helpful or not, and vote and comment on those issues yourself.  Rather than having to surf through all those thousands comments on hundreds of blogs, or hang out at Matt’s barbershop or Rao’s, you can easily see the arguments for or against an issue on Localocracy.

Localocracy is using Amherst’s 3/23 election as a beta test and has just launched today.  You can go and vote and comment on the override and all the candidates running for office in Amherst.

http://Localocracy.com - Be sure to Register at the top right side.

Here’s the company’s blog, written by the CEO, Conor Sullivan-White which talks more about how Localocracy works and their mission:
http://localocracy.posterous.com

Localocracy is a new, innovative Amherst-based startup coming out of all the entrepreneurial software companies launching in our town and valley (Some others are Dexrex, Happn.in, CookThink, GroundCrew, PleaseBringIt and of course Otalo).  I’m on the board and have been working with Conor and his team to help solve this problem in our democracy - an easy way for folks to learn about issues facing their community and make their voices heard.  They are a great team doing great things!

Check ‘em out!