Don’t let the election be stolen. Report voting problems with Twitter Vote Report
In the face of an election featuring voting machines that have serious tampering issues, and political parties trying to disenfranchise voters that don’t fit their demographics, it’s really important that we have a single location to post our problems with voting in real time, to hopefully combat the problems.
Thankfully it looks like there is a grass-roots non-partisan group who is using the near-ubiquitous microblogging service Twitter to monitor voting problems. It’s a fantastic idea since voters can very easily twitter from a mobile phone, and report problems with voting in near real-time. They are tracking anyone using the hashtag #votereport on twitter, and collecting all of those tweets on a single page at TwitterVoteReport.com . If you are a twitter user, please join in the effort to log your voting experience. With the problems looming with this year’s election, it’s extremely important that we have a way of logging and tracking the legitimacy of our Democracy. If you are not yet a twitter user, I urge you to create an account at Twitter.com and report your voting experience as well.
From the website, here are some more detailed directions about what you should do:
Yep, I Twitter. Now What Do I Do?
It’s simple. We voters are using Twitter and other texting tools to report on how the vote is really going during this election, and we’re urging everyone to use the common word (or “hashtag” in Twitter lingo) of #votereport as they do so. If that happens, we’ll all be able watch on maps and graphs how the election is going across the country.
Including “#votereport” in your tweet is enough to get your report tracked by Twitter Vote Report. But the more details you can stuff in, the better. So, for example, include in your Twitter post:
- #[zip code] to indicate the zip code where you’re voting; ex., “#12345″
- L:[address or city] to drill down to your exact location; ex. “L:1600 Pennsylvania Avenue DC”
- #machine for machine problems; ex., “#machine broken, using prov. ballot”
- #reg for registration troubles; ex., “#reg I wasn’t on the rolls”
- #wait:[minutes] for long lines; ex., “#wait:120 and I’m coming back later”
- #early if you’re voting before November 4th
- #good or #bad to give a quick sense of your overall experience
- #EP[your state] if you have a serious problem and need help from the Election Protection coalition; ex., #EPOH
I Don’t Twitter, But I’m Willing to Try.
Don’t worry, Twitter is really easy to use. That’s one reason so many people love it. Just jump over to Twitter.com to sign up for a free account. You might want to watch “Twitter in Plain English”, the short video to the right, to learn how it works. Then follow the steps above for sending in a report.
I Don’t Twitter and I Don’t Want To. Can I Still Participate?Sure thing. Our team of crack developers have come up with all sorts of ways for you to make your vote report known:
- Send a text message to 66937 and start your message with “#votereport”
- Download and use the iPhone app
- Find the “votereport” app in the Google Android marketplace
- Key in a report by calling (567) 258-VOTE/8683 (coming soon)
Okay, I Sent in Reports. Now What?
#votereport reports will, in real-time, be made available to anyone who wants them. Visit TwitterVoteReport.com to see the reports flow in. Voters can read these messages and help one another solve problems, liking letting someone know when a polling place has been moved. Advocacy groups can use them to spot problems. Citizens can figure out how to lend fellow voters a hand. And the press can zero in on local voting stories worth telling. Just sending in short reports can help your fellow citizens to vote.
I appreciate any help you guys can give. I think it’s really important.
Tags: election, twitter, vote
