It's to the best of our knowledge. I'm Anne Strain Champs. Today, political engagement.

Voters will head to the polls for congressional midterm elections in just a few weeks,

but according to some estimates, voter turnout is likely to be lower than in previous years.

So is that because we're sick and tired of politics?

Apathetic about the issues and candidates?

Or are we just too busy to care?

In this hour, what would it take to make politics more fun and engaging for everyone?

Here's one example.

You know those notices you get for local public hearings?

Water quality, street maintenance, school board?

If you're like me, you're not exactly rearranging your life to attend them.

I mean, yes, they matter, but they're just kind of boring.

Josh Lerner thinks local governments could boost the fun factor in the political process

by borrowing ideas from game design.

He's watched this happen in places like Venezuela, Canada, and Argentina,

and he writes about it in a book called Making Democracy Fun.

Charles Monroe Kane asked where he went and what he saw.

Argentina did research on several local government programs. One of them was a program called Rosario Appetatat, which was designed to redevelop the shanty towns.

So in Argentina, like a lot of Latin American countries, there are extremely poor shanty towns scattered across the city.

So shacks built of scavenged material, of cardboard, of metal planks, no streets, no safe access to running water, electricity, sewage.

And the city wanted to change this and turn these neighborhoods into actual communities where people might want to live and which could be more functional and healthy.

So they did this through a program where they asked residents in those shantytowns to decide on new plans for their neighborhoods.

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