Systems and/or methods for targeted opinion polling with anonymity
Examples of the present technology provide a platform for verified-anonymous community polling and referenda. The platform registers users, interfaces with external identity-verification services to confirm identity and eligibility attributes (e.g., geography, age, affiliation), and issues non-reversible participation tokens unlinkable to identity. Authorized creators (including elected officials) define communities, eligibility filters, demographic targets, and member-creation privileges, then publish polls delivered only to eligible user devices. The system enforces one person per poll via tokens, receives responses, and, in real-time, produces aggregate results and demographic breakdowns without storing or associating identities, while preventing the disclosure of individual-level data. The present technology can generate auditable reports with confidence metrics and can transmit the reports to user devices and an official interface that enables direct constituent access and subsequent verified referenda.
1 . A system for polling a population of people, the system comprising:
at least one server configured to communicate over a network with a plurality of user devices associated with a plurality of users, wherein the at least one server comprises at least one processor comprising processing circuitry and non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one server to:
receive, over the network from the plurality of user devices associated with the plurality of users, registration information for the plurality of users;
transmit, over the network to a verification service, the registration information for the plurality of users;
receive, over the network from the verification service, confirmation of identities of the plurality of users;
receive, over the network from a first user device associated with a first user among the plurality of users, a request to create a first poll, the request including a community, one or more poll topics, at least one question, a plurality of responses for each question, first poll expiration information, respondent age group for the first poll, and respondent gender for the first poll;
in response to receiving the request, transmit, over the network, information about the first poll to user devices among the plurality of user devices associated with users that belong to the community;
receive from at least a portion of the user devices among the plurality of user devices associated with the users that belong to the community, response information to the at least one question;
generate a report of responses to the first poll based on the received response information without associating user identities of the users that belong to the community with the responses; and
transmit information about the report to the user devices among the plurality of user devices associated with users that belong to the community.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the community is a geographic region.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the community is an organization.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each community is associated with a plurality of topics.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one server to:
confirm that the users belong to the community based on information received from the verification service in response to the transmitting of the registration information for the plurality of users.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the response information to the at least one question is received without the response information being associated with the users that belong to the community.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the request to create the first poll includes an indication whether to share identity of the first user with the poll.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the request to create the first poll includes an indication whether to display identity of the first user with the poll.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the request to create the first poll includes whether to display poll results to respondents, and respondent geographic information, wherein the information about the first poll is transmitted to user devices among the plurality of user devices satisfying the respondent age group for the first poll, the respondent gender for the first poll, and the respondent geographic information.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the request to create the first poll includes a purpose statement for the first poll entered by the first user.
11 . A user device comprising:
a display;
communication circuitry configured to communicate over a network with a server;
at least one processor comprising processing circuitry; and
non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the user device to:
receive, based on user inputs made into a registration screen displayed on the display, user registration information for a user, the user registration information including user's name, date of birth, and contact information;
transmit, to the server over the network, a request to authenticate an identity of the user using a verification service;
after the identity of the user is authenticated, associate, based on user inputs into a community selection screen displayed on the display, the user with one or more communities from a plurality of communities;
receive a notification indicating availability of one or more polls associated with the one or more communities associated with the user;
in response to the user selecting a first poll among the one or more polls associated with the one or more communities associated with the user, simultaneously display a question and a plurality of selectable responses of the first poll on the display, wherein the first poll includes first poll expiration information, respondent age group for the first poll, and respondent gender for the first poll;
receive a user input selecting at least one of the displayed plurality of selectable responses of the first poll;
in response to receiving the user input selecting the at least one of the displayed plurality of selectable response, transmit, to the server over the network, information indicating the selected at least one response;
after transmitting the information indicating the selected at least one response, receive, from the server over the network, a report of responses to the first poll received from a plurality of users, wherein the report of responses is generated without associating user identities of the plurality of users; and
display, on the display, the report of the responses to the first poll.
12 . The user device of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the user device to:
receive, based on user inputs into a poll creation screen displayed on the display, a request to create a second poll, the request including a second poll community, one or more poll topics, at least one question, and a plurality of responses for each question;
in response to receiving the request to create the second poll, transmit, to the server over the network, information about the request for the second poll;
receive, from the server over the network, a report of responses to the second poll received from a plurality of users that belong to the second poll community, wherein the report of responses to the second poll is generated without associating user identities of the plurality of users that belong to the second poll community; and
display, on the display, the report of the responses to the second poll.
13 . The user device of claim 12 , wherein the second poll community is a geographic region or an organization.
14 . The user device of claim 11 , wherein each community of the plurality of communities is associated with a plurality of topics.
15 . The user device of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of communities from which the user selects the one or more communities are provided based on the information received from the verification service in response to the transmitting of the user identifying information.
16 . The user device of claim 12 , wherein the request to create the second poll includes second poll expiration information, respondent age group for the second poll, and respondent gender for the second poll.
17 . The user device of claim 12 , wherein the request to create the second poll includes indication whether to share identity of the user creating the second poll with the plurality of users that belong to the second poll community.
18 . The user device of claim 12 , wherein the request to create the second poll includes second poll expiration information, whether to display poll results to respondents of the second poll, respondent age group for the second poll, respondent gender for the second poll, and respondent geographic information for the second poll, wherein the plurality of users that belong to the second poll community include users satisfying the respondent age group for the second poll, the respondent gender for the second poll, and the respondent geographic information for the second poll.
19 . The user device of claim 12 , wherein the request to create the second poll includes second poll expiration information and purpose statement for the second poll entered by the user.
20 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one server comprises at least one processor comprising processing circuitry, perform a method comprising:
receiving, over a network from a plurality of user devices associated with a plurality of users, registration information for the plurality of users;
transmitting, over the network to a verification service, the registration information for the plurality of users;
receiving, over the network from the verification service, confirmation of identities of the plurality of users;
receiving, over the network from a first user device associated with a first user among the plurality of users, a request to create a first poll, the request including a community, one or more poll topics, at least one question, a plurality of responses for each question, first poll expiration information, respondent age group for the first poll, and respondent gender for the first poll;
in response to receiving the request, transmitting, over the network, information about the first poll to user devices among the plurality of user devices associated with users that belong to the community;
receiving from at least a portion of the user devices among the plurality of user devices associated with the users that belong to the community, response information to the at least one questions;
generating a report of responses to the first poll based on the received response information without associating user identities of the users that belong to the community with the responses; and
transmitting information about the report to the user devices among the plurality of user devices associated with users that belong to the community.