1. CastingVote.com publishes polls, quizzes and games by Web and email.
2. We're totally independent.
3. Public votes are free for voters and authors.
4. Privacy is a top priority. We do not keep a permanent record of exactly how you voted.
5. CastingVote believes in democracy. We want to ask your questions, so please send in ideas, and even have a go at writing votes yourself. Make a difference!
6. CastingVote also supplies voting technology.

CastingVote.com is the invention of brothers Pete and Mike Austin. Level 9 Computing, their first venture together in the 1980s, resulted in a highly successful series of best selling computer adventure games (still to be found via the many sites offering Spectrum, Commodore and the other 'classic' computer emulators). Both have continued working in the computer industry, in finance and on trading room systems. More recently, Mike Austin has developed a number of interactive business training games, published on the Web.

Development on CastingVote.com began in 1999. The first public poll was run on 30 January 2000, after about six months' work. The site has sections for the USA, UK and Rest of the World. We think that CastingVote is:

• The only, free, general-purpose voting site. Not a politics-only zone!
• The only site to offer general-purpose voting by email
• The only site with technology for polls, quizzes and games (examples)