MetaFilter posts tagged with Politics and voting

EU Profiler

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:37:40 -0800

EU Profiler: the authors of Kieskompas, a "Vote-O-Mat"-style tool for the undecided Dutch voter, following up on their adaptation for the US Presidential election (previously on MeFi), will launch an EU-wide version for the European Parliament elections upcoming in June. So Europeans, urge your political parties to register! The tool itself will launch in May.

I'm writing in Stephen Colbert

misha — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:41:31 -0800

Bother Voting doesn't care who you are going to support this election, as long as you get out and vote. Now all you have to do is use their creative e-cards and banners to convince your friends to hit the polls.

"Something — something — happens every election.”

Miko — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 06:51:55 -0800

“I’m an old computer nerd,” Diener said. “I can do anything with computers. Nothing’s wrong with computers. But this is the worst way to run an election.” NYTMag piece on electronic voting, voter confidence, and the impact of old-fashioned problems like printer jams, befuddled voters and volunteers, and interface design flaws. By Clive Thompson.

Death Grip

homunculus — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:45:30 -0800

Death Grip: How Political Psychology Explains Bush's Ghastly Success. Interesting article on the work of psychologists Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, and Tom Pyszczynski. [Via Disinformation.]

Nomic is a game where modifying the game is the game.

cortex — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:57:43 -0800

Nomic, as introduced by inventor Peter Suber (homepage): a game of self-modification—every move is an attempt to alter the rules governing how the game is played. Further from wikipedia. [A great deal more within.]

Mo' money, mo' legislation

djgh — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:19:20 -0800

Is there a link between donations given and bills passed? MAPLight.org aims to help you find out, giving you the ability to compare contributions with how legislators voted. [Via]

Is anyone even shocked at this point?

Pope Guilty — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:58:06 -0800

For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates, according to former department lawyers and a review of written records.

Oh, Cruel Fate To Be Thusly Boned Or How To Steal An Election

sparkletone — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:41:02 -0800

A manual for electoral apocalypse in America. Quite a bit's been written both on MeFi and other places about how bad Diebold machines are. Rolling Stone wrote an article about election fraud in 2004 that was discussed here on MeFi. Tonight, Ars posted a very thorough, very clear article about how we are completely screwed if we do not enact expensive, fundamental changes in how we handle elections in America. It's too late to do anything about the elections in a couple weeks, but perhaps steps can be taken to fix things before 2008...

Win is irreversible, says ruling party's candidate

amberglow — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 22:43:16 -0800

Mexico's election: now being recounted, but some are saying it was stolen with our help. Many countries in Latin and South America have been moving to the left lately, following in the footsteps of Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. Argentina actually caught us messing with things during their election, too. Exit polls in Mexico (as in Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004) showed a lead for the more leftist (relatively) candidate, and for those who scoff at using exit polls as evidence--in 2004, US Republican Senator Richard Lugar, in Kiev, cited the divergence of exit polls and official polls as solid evidence of “blatant fraud” in the vote count in Ukraine. As a result, the Bush Administration refused to recognize the Ukraine government’s official vote tally. So, honest election, or what?

Diebold

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 12:06:42 -0800

Diebold boss resigns pending fraud investigation

In sworn affidavit, programmer says he developed vote-rigging prototype for Florida congressman; Congressman’s office silent

jackspace — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 18:10:25 -0800

In sworn affidavit, programmer says he developed vote-rigging prototype for Florida congressman; Congressman’s office silent - Will this go the way of the Wayne Madsen report? Perhaps this is, as some have noted, just another Rovian Hit. At this point in time, I keep my tinfoil hat ready. Even if it were true, I doubt the Republican-majority-ed House and Senate are can hardly be expected to investigate themselves. For now, I just keep laughing at HERCUBUSH (Quicktime) (Real) and trying to convince myself that we are all in Bush now.

Did Lightning Strike Twice in Florida?

jonp72 — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 14:35:01 -0800

Florida is the New Florida Although many discussions of voting anomalies focused on Ohio, a statistical analysis of Florida voting patterns performed by sociologists at University of California, Berkeley suggests that electronic touch screen voting in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade may have credited George Bush with up to 260,000 extra votes in Florida. The discrepancy is not enough to change who won Florida, but it could have narrowed Bush's lead to 90,000 votes instead of 350,000, highlighting the need for better auditing of elections with electronic voting.

.

Parannoyed — Sun, 07 Nov 2004 16:02:26 -0800

Robert J. Vanderbei is trying to show us we're not as divided as it seems.
It's not quite the City Vs. Country conflict that you may have understood it to be in this years election. Methinks, perhaps, this extends to other political opinions as well.

Lots of great voting result visualizations are available at this blog. Including my favorite, state results, with electoral votes dictating the relative size of the state. I'm not explaining it well. Go look here.

I *promise* this'll be the last political post for a while. I know we're all wretchedly sick of it.

Quick! Call the media!

troutfishing — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 13:13:38 -0800

A bizzare pattern of impossible anomalies This has long been known : the welter of financial ties of Diebold and ES&S to the radical religious right (with stakeholders currently, it seems, on the secretive CNP) and Bob Fitrakis notes : "Wherever Diebold and ES&S go, irregularities and historic Republican upsets follow." Howard Ahmanson was the original funder for Bob and Todd Urosevich's Data Mark,which became ES&S, Bob later left to head Diebold ,maker of HAVA Act mandated touch screen voting machines used in Ohio and Florida and elsewhere....Ahmanson is a Christian Reconstructionist (a form of Dominionism ) who has talked of imposing Biblical law on the US - including the death penalty for gays and drunkards - and is also a main funder of the Chalcedon Foundation. However, the most bizzare patterns of anomalies in Florida came not from touch-screen but optical scan machines. Florida's central vote tabulator also is Diebold made, raising questions on the a bizzare pattern of anomalies in which a large number of counties in Florida had increases in Republicans votes over expected levels - by an overall average of 50% to 100% and - in one county, as high as 700%. Meanhwhile, here are graphs of variance between exit poll results for battleground states.

The Indyvoter Network

djacobs — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 13:11:17 -0800

Over 125 voter guides, sorted by city and written collaboratively by Indyvoter's network of members are now on-line. This is social software with a purpose - members of the network form voting blocs to swing close elections, from city council members up to the national level.

Oh conservatism, thou art sick!

troutfishing — Fri, 22 Oct 2004 15:08:17 -0800

Becoming what you hate : Nathan Sproul, case study in moral relativism on the Religious Right "former head of the Arizona Republican Party and of the Arizona Christian Coalition....Sproul is connected with the Republican National Committee-funded voter registration organization, Voters' Outreach of America Inc." - Sproul's firm is accused of fraud and the destruction of voter registration forms. He also failed to pay his workers and his office rent. Rick Perlstein, in the Village Voice, comments on the Sproul scandal : "Both sides are not equally bad, and any reporters who don't recognize that conservatism's very core has become shot through with a culture of mendacity should turn in their press badge..... It used to be that we could count on the conscience of conservatives to protect our democratic institutions."

2%

GriffX — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:59:47 -0800

2 Percent: Original recipe.
Extra crispy.
It's not that tough a choice.

So, what's up with those undecided voters? A slightly more polite version of Samantha Bee's "How the f*** do you dress yourself in the morning?!" question.

cute

delmoi — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 19:23:42 -0800

Was your voter registration form thick enough? Ohio's republican secretary of state has issued an order (three days before the registration deadline) to throw out all voter registration forms printed on paper less then 80lb. Coincidence that dem-leaning areas have seen a 250% rise in voter registration, with tens of thousands of new voters in a race expected to be closer then FL 2000?

Oh yeah, the state sent out 40lb forms to those requesting them. Cute, huh.

We're the most advanced nation on earth! Neat!

XQUZYPHYR — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 20:11:54 -0800

Monkey hacks Diebold voting machine. Really.

World opinion

FidelDonson — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 03:04:17 -0800

BetaVote.com If we had our say - things would be very different. This is obviously not very reliable data but thought provoking non the less. I am pretty sure the 90 to 10 in Kerrys favor is a just about an accurate measure of Denmarks opinion.

BOHICA!

black8 — Mon, 16 Aug 2004 14:45:40 -0800

Is the GOP tampering with Florida elections? The New York Times reports that State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November. Also, see here and here. Why do we even put up with this?

Who wouldn't vote for free beer?

tommasz — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 05:09:41 -0800

Register to vote and you can get free beer! What better way to reach that vast pool of unregistered twenty-one year-olds than offering them something they actually want? Brought to you by the Democrats, of course. But not without some controversy (from health experts, not Republicans), even though they only get two 2-ounce glasses.

Any other examples of inventive voter registration drives out there?

just the facts, ma'am.

crunchland — Sun, 28 Mar 2004 20:07:55 -0800

factcheck.org -- a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.

opposition through inaction?

grabbingsand — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:02:25 -0800

talking loud, voting on nothing. georgia's new governor is following through on his campaign promise to "let the people speak" regarding the design of our state flag. the flag was last redesigned in 2001 to put to rest a substantial amount of controversy revolving around the inclusion of a confederate battle flag.

this opportunity to voice an opinion will be offered to the populace next spring in the form of a non-binding referendum. and while the results will not result in an official decision either way, the mayor of atlanta has said she will take a strong stance in the matter by "purposely not [voting] either way on the ballot questions."

is doing nothing an effective means of protest? sounds more like a kid on a playground declaring themselves "switzerland" in the middle of a fight.

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 26

specialk420 — Mon, 18 Nov 2002 07:56:01 -0800

chip glitch Robbie Floyd - seemed agape even hours after learning of his defeat Wednesday. "It was hard to believe that that type of mistake had happened," he said.