Google has created a special Doodle on its Kenya homepage google.co.ke to mark the ongoing elections, and Doodle will be on from 6am to 6pm.
It was created by the Google Doodle team, and is intended to highlight a peaceful and inclusive electoral process.
The Doodle is representative as Kenyans go to the polls for the first time under a new constitution, to elect: the President, Senators, County Governors, Members of Parliament, and Women County Representatives.
Google has been a part of spreading the peace message prior to the polls via the Elections hub, the YouTube channel, Shabikika Amani na Kura Yako (Sports4peace campaign) and supporting student developers to create tools for engagement with elections-related information.
Google Doodles, which are customisations of the Google logo were started in 1999 by Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang. He was an intern at the time when he was asked to design a logo for the 4th of July in 2000.
“Since then, the Doodle team has celebrated and marked worldwide events, anniversaries, and holidays with Doodles that are designed on, around and through the Google logo on the site’s home page,” according to a statement from Google Kenya.
Now Hwang’s work is seen by millions every time he and his team exhibit on the Google homepage.
More than 200 doodles have appeared on the US site Google.com since and hundreds more have appeared on international domains. They are usually designed by either googlers or users.
