Voter Story: Make Sure Every Vote Counts
There's a new "widget" circulating on the web that is designed to help make sure every vote is counted on Election Day.
VoterStory.org has been created as an open-source tool for the puropose of recording and reporting problems at the polls. Its widget, which it is distributing for free online, allows people who are having trouble voting or are being denied their right to vote to post their problem online for distribution to voter-advocate groups standing by to assist them.
The effort, undertaken by the Funders' Committee for Civic Participation and with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the Open Society Institute, stems from "the dramatic increase of electronic voting machines and longstanding concerns about the integrity of the democratic process." Although I hope that this election unfolds without a hitch, it's reassuring to know that VoterStory.org is there to help incase it doesn't. If you can, please help spread the word about VoterStory.org so that, if something does go wrong on November 7, people are prepared to handle it.
VoterStory.org has been created as an open-source tool for the puropose of recording and reporting problems at the polls. Its widget, which it is distributing for free online, allows people who are having trouble voting or are being denied their right to vote to post their problem online for distribution to voter-advocate groups standing by to assist them.
The effort, undertaken by the Funders' Committee for Civic Participation and with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the Open Society Institute, stems from "the dramatic increase of electronic voting machines and longstanding concerns about the integrity of the democratic process." Although I hope that this election unfolds without a hitch, it's reassuring to know that VoterStory.org is there to help incase it doesn't. If you can, please help spread the word about VoterStory.org so that, if something does go wrong on November 7, people are prepared to handle it.
posted by Hans Riemer at 11:56 AM
19 Comments:
So long as those who go to their correct polling place are properly registered, and produce proper identification, both in accordance with the law, then I suspect few legitimate complaints will be registered.
The big myth of the Florida 2000 elections were the 'thousands and thousands' of disenfranchised voters. Yes, there were errors involving a few people wrongly excluded from the rolls, but the overwhelming impression by the media that 'thousands and thousands' was pure propaganda.
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I'm concerned that Rock The Vote, which claims to be non-partisan, and enjoys tax-exempt status, is merely another front for the secular progressive agenda. I hope this isn't the case, and I'd like to remind today's youth that it isn't necessary to parrot the liberal MTV agenda to be politically active.
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Most of those that complain will be the ones that are too ignorant to understand the system, too dumb to know how to properly vote, and are not aware of the issues in the first place.
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Attention all voters, just an FYI.
Check out http://theballot.org for a wealth of voter guides.
You can post your own also!
I am writing to enlist your help in spreading the word about Veek the Vote 2006 (www.veekthevote.com), a project that enables people to use the cameras in their mobile phones to express themselves and document Election Day in near real-time.
Veek The Vote represents something wholly new in the history of election coverage. Anyone with a mobile phone equipped with a camera-—there are over 70 million of them in the U.S.--can send a photo or video to vote@veeker.com. No registration is requried. No special software is needed.
Fifteen to sixty seconds after a photo or video is sent, it will appear in a embedded player at veekthevote.com. This player, in turn, can be taken by anyone and embedded anywhere on the web: on blogs, MySpace pages, etc. Veek the Vote generates a completely open mobile video communication network, enabling complete democratization of election coverage. We take in video from anyone, and allow anyone to display it on their website.
We’re very excited about the prospects for Veek the Vote. It empowers Americans to be more than a statistic captured by exit polls on Election Day. Whether they’re taking to the streets in protest, waiting patiently (or impatiently) in line at the polls, or stuck behind a desk, Veek the Vote 2006 lets America show and see Election Day in a way never before possible.
Any help that you all might be able to give in helping us get this story out would be very much appreciated. The more people that know about Veek the Vote, the more powerful it will be.
Sincerely,
Kemble K. Pope
Former Regional Field Director, RTV
Veeker Consultant
The State of Black Atlanta, or Black America, discussion has been around for the entire 40 years I have been alive. We have framed the discussion incorrectly all that time. As a lawyer, I know that when you ask the wrong question you will most likely get the wrong answer. But nobody, especially no political or public figure, wants to speak on the real problem. The real problem is POVERTY AND THE INEQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH AND RESOURCES. Every other "problem" we face is directly related to that core dynamic. Education, healthcare, social security, crime, jobs, terrorism, wars, taxes, and any other “issue” that politicians and pundits imagine, are all just symptoms of the larger problem. Most of the corruption in government can be traced back to the great paper chase. Politics is a very lucrative racket. “Morality” issues would not be issues at all if we had better things to do than getting in other folks business, and are only used to drive wedges between people. Divide and conquers is a tool of the ruling elite.
Poverty, the most fundamental of issues, isn’t addressed directly because we are socialized to love wealth. We aspire to wealth above all else, and we won’t demonize that which we fervently hope to achieve. Those who currently have wealth consider themselves to be deserving of their circumstance, and rarely speak against their obvious self-interest. In fact the problem is not wealth; rather it’s inequitable distribution of wealth. This is a nation and world of “haves” and “have-nots”. The “haves” are a tiny minority but exercise control over most of the resources. Their only motivating factor in their actions is the bottom line of more profit. My father, a retiree from Ford, just had his health insurance snatched away because the “haves” decided that even though he worked all those years and was promised health insurance for his service, their bottom line was ultimately more important. No local, state, or federal elected official has said, or will ever say, a mumbling word about it. There will be no mention of this because Ford has lobbyists and more money than my poor father and all the other employees combined who labored under the delusion that there was light at the end of that tunnel.
The conversation about the State of Black Atlanta (or America) is the same superficial rehashing of superficial issues, combined with the same call to action of participation in the electoral process. I don’t mean to appear demeaning to the organizers or participants in these discussions, but that is reality as I see it. We continue to frame the discussion in the wrong terms therefore nothing improves. An age old truth is that if you continue to do what you always do, you will continue to get what you always get. It is not now, nor has it ever been, all about voting for the right candidate. There are times when there is NO RIGHT CANDIDATE. I heard the most popular radio personality in Atlanta applaud a caller for going to vote after she admitted that she had no idea about the issues or the candidates. Is this what our precious right to vote is reduced to? I hear all the time that if I don't vote then I am afraid, apathetic, ignorant, irresponsible, or some other negative that makes me less than a good citizen. None of that is true. It is also a blatant and callous attack on the messenger rather than a sober reflection on the message. I and millions others like me simply refuse to continue to play a fixed game. Just like I don't play “three card monte” on street corners, I don't play any game that I know or have reason to suspect the outcome will be unfairly manipulated.
I felt so bad for all the people who were kicked in the stomach by that reality in 2000, and again in 2004. But I am a realist and I knew it was coming, even as I participated in the elections and “get out the vote” efforts. It's going to happen again this year, and it has absolutely nothing to do with how many of us play the voting game. I am simply not under the illusion that the “haves” will allow anything to threaten their position. I don’t offer an alternative or solution here because we have yet to acknowledge the actual problem. Solutions in that environment are useless. I will say that the alternatives and solutions require an understanding that "Power Concedes Nothing, Except to a Greater Power." I went to Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta, and every school day for 5 years I walked past that quote from Mr. Douglass. We continue to ignore the wisdom of our ancestors at our peril.
My position won’t get equal time, because it runs counter to everything the mainstream wants to believe, and everything the powers that be want them to think. I know I will be accused of being divisive, distracting, and detrimental for even raising this issue the day before the election. I know that proponents of voting won’t welcome a serious debate over their core philosophy. They are devoting all of their time and energy to the eminent elections. Most people aren’t very willing to hear challenges to their fundamental belief systems at any time. I don’t get that luxury because my beliefs in this area run counter to the mainstream. I am challenged constantly. As I write this on the eve of the November 2006 mid-term elections, I am barraged by the “get out and vote” message from all sides. So I have little sympathy for the unfortunate timing. We only think about voting when it’s time to vote, so this must be the time to address all reasoned positions on the issue.
I know the sacrifices that were made to get us the right to vote. I understand why there is such a reluctance to admit that the path we believed would take us to the mountaintop has instead left us wandering in the wilderness. Dr. King realized this near the end of his time. He articulated his concern that we were integrating into a burning house, and that we had focused on civil rights when we should have addressed poverty as the major focus of the movement. Unless and until we begin to realize that the challenges ahead of us must be met with a new plan and a new program, we will continue to address 21st century issues with a 19th century mentality. We will continue to treat the symptoms of the cancer, more concerned with skin blemishes than with the fact that our vital internal organs are in the grips of a deadly disease. We will continue to do the things we have always done, and expecting things to change. We continue to practice this insanity and we will ultimately reap the disaster we have sown.
Every Vote Counts!!!
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thank you very much,
i had a fun time reading.
hope you are well.
eddie
ART NEW YORK
Vote! I beg you.
I'm usually very long-winded as can be witnessed at my blogs--YouthPlay and Sisterly Advice. But this morning I am keeping it short--Get Out and Vote!
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