Taking Back our Votes!

Voting should be easy, but for some reason every time an election day rolls around, stories abound about tricks and tactics to keep certain votes from being counted.  And often there isn't much that can be done to stop them in time for those who are entitled to vote, but who get challenged or pushed away, to actually make their political voices heard.

MOMocrat Julie and some of her friends experienced that first hand with early voting in Texas.  Other examples abound -- lawsuits filed in Ohio and Indiana by the GOP to prevent new registrants from voting, signs and ads trying to trick voters into believing that Republicans vote on November 4 and Democrats on November 5, Florida precincts trying to defy the Governor's orders to extend polling hours.

And, of course, there are the issues with the electronic voting machines in use all over the country that can create havoc all on their own --

So, what are voters to do when it feels as though instead of fighting for out right to be heard, so many are doing  their utmost to take it away?

Why turning to social media, of course!

Some of my favorite enterprising people on the blogosphere have created two projects --  the Voter Suppression Wiki, an effort to gather and disseminate information about people who are being turned away wrongfully from the polls, and Tweet the Vote Report, designed to get the info out about good and bad voting stories and experiences, again in hopes of letting as many people as possible know (ATTENTION MAIN STREAM MEDIA!!) about what's really going on on the ground at polling places.

We can make a first step at taking back what's ours -- the right to cast our votes and not be tricked or fooled or turned away during one of the most critical elections of our lifetimes.

MOMocrat Joanne IS a political wonk from way back, but even she is looking forward to November 5, over at her place, PunditMom.

Comments

[jon]

Thanks for the link, Joanne! There are lots of other great social media election protection and citizen journalism projects, including the text-message-base Immediate Repsonse Network, Voter Story '08, and the New York Times Polling Place Photo Project ... there's a list in progress at http://www.votersuppression.net/page/Grassroots+election+protection+initiatives

jon

[cynematic]

I'll be bringing a small video camera to document voting at a few polling spots in and around Los Angeles. We're not likely to have any cases of voter suppression, but I do want to record a little of the moment for posterity's sake.

(I voted by mail so I could have the day free.)

People in swing states (actually, everywhere) should know that there are organized efforts to document with camcorders any possible instances of voter suppression. Go here to find out more: http://videothevote.org/; tweet as #vtv.