In recent years, more and more technology experts have been developing new tools for boosting civic engagement. Sara Gifford embodies the trend. At the end of 2018 she set aside her budding tech career — after a decade at supply-chain software firm Quintiq she'd become chief operating officer for Dispatch, which makes software connecting home-service brands with contractors and clients — and co-founded ActiVote Inc. Its free app aims to increase political participation by giving voters access to information about candidates and elections, as well as encouraging their civic engagement. Her answers have been edited for clarity and length.
What's the tweet-length description of your organization?
We are a safe, nonpartisan space for voters to learn about their elections, the races, how to vote and which candidates believe what they believe. An informed voter feels empowered. And an empowered voter shows up to vote.
Describe your very first civic engagement.
My parents voted at our elementary school in rural Connecticut and would take my sisters and me to the polls with them. I remember not being allowed into my classroom until my parents voted. When I whined and complained, they would tell me there is nothing more important than voting and not to take school — or democracy — for granted.
What was your biggest professional triumph?
When you build something the question is always: But does it work? Well, last month we finished a study showing that downloading our app increases your chance of voting 33 percent. This was very encouraging for us. More importantly it should be encouraging to everyone else in this space. It means there are new and innovative ways to get people to the polls.
And your most disappointing setback?
There is an old saying, "It can take years and years of hard work to become an overnight success." We are working hard for our overnight success to come! But, no worries: See the answer to the question below about advice.
How does your identity influence the way you go about your work?
I have heart. I am relentless. I am dedicated. I take all of those values and apply them to life and to our work increasing voter participation, because it takes all of those things to maintain our democracy.
What's the best advice you've ever been given?
Vince Lombardi said, "Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is." We may not always be as successful or as fast as we would like, but the one thing we can control is our endless drive to want to do good and to work hard to get there.
Create a new flavor for Ben & Jerry's.
Vote Ready: Strawberry and vanilla ice cream with blue sprinkles built on top of chocolate brownies.
What's your favorite political movie or TV show?
"The West Wing," which ran from 1999 to 2006 on NBC and is now available on Netflix.
What's the last thing you do on your phone at night?
Set up my white noise app so that I sleep like a baby.
What is your deepest, darkest secret?
As a kid I once hid the last piece to a puzzle my little sister and I were doing, knowing it would drive her crazy. But when it came down to finishing the puzzle I couldn't remember where I hid it. Still have never told her!
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."