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Rock the Vote registers voters with QR code T-shirts

Organization aimed at engaging young people in the political process hopes to register 1.5 million new voters with the help of a QR code-emblazoned T-shirt.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
Scan to Vote shirts
Scan a torso, register to vote. Threads 4 Thought

Rock the Vote is credited with creating the first telephone voter registration system. Now it has introduced the first shirt-activated voter registration system.

The Scan to Vote T-shirt is part of a larger campaign aimed at signing up 1.5 million new voters before election day rolls around this fall. The shirts are available for $28 through Threads 4 Thought.

Scan the QR code printed on the shirt and you end up at the Scan to Vote Web site and can walk through the process of registering to vote online.

I remember when Rock the Vote first launched in the early 1990s. It was all over MTV and endorsed by everyone from Madonna to Queen Latifah. It was cool.

The organization has never been afraid to try out new technologies in its quest to register voters. It once teamed up with Microsoft to reach out to gamers through Xbox Live. Go back even further and you'll find an iTunes promotion exchanging free songs for a voting commitment.

If all goes according to plan, droves of voters will be signing up via QR code scanning apps pointed at other people's torsos. That's pretty rockin'.

(Via Mashable)