MetaFilter posts tagged with elections and election

Become a Citizen Election Monitor

anotherpanacea — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:06:35 -0800

My Fair Election crowd-sources pollwatching: "We hope that this information will be used by citizens, journalists, and election officials to identify the worst polling places and work to fix them. We hope that officials in charge of polling places with long lines or otherwise operate poorly will be embarrassed, held to account, and so motivated to do a better job." (via Hollie Russon-Gilman and Archon Fung)

"You can't steal an election one person at a time."

catlet — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:33:46 -0800

The possibility of voter fraud in the US has spawned a number of state laws requiring particular kinds of identification at the polls, as well as grassroots organizations that search public records to challenge certain voters' registrations . Much of the modern debate about potential voter fraud has been driven by Hans von Spakovsky, a Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow, former member of the Federal Elections Commission, and former counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, where he worked on voting issues. Writing for the New Yorker, Jane Mayer describes von Spakovsky's influence on conservative groups like True the Vote, various state attempts to disqualify registered voters, and the lack of evidence for many claims made in support of voter ID laws.

The beginning of tyranny.

zarq — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 21:36:35 -0800

Last year, The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU's Law School released a report (pdf) detailing new, more restrictive state laws that affect voting rights and are likely to impact the outcome of the 2012 elections. The restrictions "fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities." On August 3rd, 2012, they updated their analysis with a pdf of passed and pending State government legislation. Their conclusion: after a century in which the United States "expanded the franchise and knocked down myriad barriers to full electoral participation... that momentum [has] abruptly shifted." Analysis A number of states have passed legislation that do one or more of the following: * Eliminate early voting * Made government-issued photo identification requirements mandatory for voting or registering * Required proof of citizenship for voting or registering * Newly disenfranchised taxpayers with past criminal convictions. Etc. * At least 180 restrictive bills have been introduced since the beginning of 2011 in 41 states. * There are 27 restrictive bills currently pending in 6 states. * 25 laws and 2 executive actions have passed since the beginning of 2011 in 19 states. * 16 states have passed restrictive voting laws. These states account for 214 electoral votes, or nearly 79 percent of the total needed to win the presidency. Of these, 14 laws and executive actions are currently in effect in 10 states.

Pencils down.

Rhaomi — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 08:45:11 -0800

It's Election Day in America, and as is so often the case in this fickle land, the results of the 2010 midterm elections are up in the air. Although President Obama's party is expected to suffer significant losses, record numbers of districts remain competitive, and even minute errors in polling could mean the difference between a historic Republican landslide and an unexpectedly robust Democratic defense. At stake are control of not just the Senate and House, but myriad state and local offices, many of which will play key roles in the dynamics of the 2012 presidential race -- and, more subtly but no less crucially, the once-in-a-decade congressional redistricting process. Much uncertainty surrounds the behavior of the electorate -- how many will turn out, and how informed will they be? To help move those statistics in the right direction, look inside for voter guides, national and state fact checkers, and an assortment of other resources to keep tabs on as the results roll in. Factchecking Sites National: PolitiFact.com (Pants On Fire! Guide, Seven Key Distortions, subject directory) FactCheck.org (Down-to-the-Wire Deceptions, Guide to 2010 lobbying groups) State (including several local branches of PolitiFact): Alabama - Arizona - Delaware - Florida - Georgia - New Mexico - Ohio - Oregon - Rhode Island - South Carolina - Texas - Virginia - Virginia 2 - Washington - Wisconsin Voter Resources Project Vote Smart's VoteEasy - Identifies local candidates and lets you auto-rank them by policy stance in a nifty Flash interface Ballot Measures Database - A compendium of ballot measures from every state in the country Google Voter Info - Uses your street address to pinpoint your polling place on Google Maps Many state chapters of the League of Women Voters offer nonpartisan guides to local candidates and issues. Same-Day Registrations Even if you've procrastinated, it might not be too late to vote. Nine states allow for voter registration on Election Day: Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, as well as the District of Columbia. North Dakota has no voter registration system. Sites to Watch Streaming coverage: CNN, ABC, C-SPAN FiveThirtyEight's Hour-by-Hour, District-by-District Election Guide - Breaks competitive House races down by likelihood of party switch and lists them by poll closing time; "magic numbers" let you project at a glance roughly how the night is going as individual races are called. See also their final, in-depth forecasts for the House, Senate, and state governorships. 270toWin.com - Offers interactive maps of the House and Senate races for you to plot out your own predictions and see how the final seat numbers would end up. Intrade - Watch a political stock market react in real-time as the night unfolds. (And, just for fun, how many of the 75 Senate candidates on today's ballots can you name?)

October Surprise?

zarq — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:59:02 -0800

Tea Party Nationalism: A Critical Examination of The Tea Party Movement and the Size, Scope and Focus of its National Factions is a new study that released today, just two weeks before the US midterm elections, by The Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR). Sponsored by the NAACP, it reports that the Tea Party movement is “permeated with concerns about race” and has “given platform to anti-Semites, racists and bigots.” Foreward to the Study by NAACP President Ben Jealous. Interview of Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP and Leonard Zeskind, President of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights and one of the authors of the report. The founder of Tea Party Nation responds: "This is typical of this liberal group’s smear tactics.” Articles, Analysis & Editorials: New York Times / National Review / Politico / HuffPost

Indian voting machine researcher arrested

These Premises Are Alarmed — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:30:37 -0800

The Indian government describes their electronic voting machines as 'perfect', but has never permitted an independant evaluation. A team of three academic researchers received access to a machine from an anonymous source, and demonstrated several flaws. Concerns are being expressed in India. At 5:30 this Saturday morning, police arrested Hari Prasad, one of the research team, at his home, transporting him to Mumbai. Via Matt Blaze.

I agree with Nick: you're no Jack Kennedy.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:05:36 -0800

Yesterday, the leaders of the three largest political parties in the UK engaged in a live televised election debate for the first time in history. Most commentators seem to agree that Nick Clegg, the leader of Britain's perennial third party the Liberal Democrats, made the best impression in yesterday's first of three weekly debates leading up to the general election on May 6. The progressive-leaning Guardian even goes so far as to claim that he is now prime ministerial material.

This being Metafilter you will undoubtedly ask, "how does Cory Doctorow figure into all of this?" Well, he agrees with Nick on the Digital Economy Act. Then again, Nick is agreed with quite a lot.

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.

An outlaw view of the underbelly of the beast during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:16:02 -0800

Fear and Loathing in Denver, Colorado - August 24-28, 2008.

Get out of the vehicle, or we'll burn it

Artw — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:52:36 -0800

Zimbabwe: Holds diplomats (after threatening to burn them), suspends aid, bans opposition rallies.

Who should I vote for?

nickyskye — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:38:06 -0800

A little lost coming up to the Presidential Primary? The Electoral Compass is a brief set of questions that matches your choices with the candidate whose positions are the closest to yours. Discover your position in the political landscape for the US presidential election 2008. Also: Political Compass

... Karl Rove, a handful of the party's most tech-savvy computer gurus and the former Republican Ohio Secretary of State, created, owned and operated the vote-counting system...

amberglow — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:44:57 -0800

Network Hosting Attorney Scandal E-Mails Also Hosted Ohio's 2004 Election Results --...more than ample documentation to show that on Election Night 2004, Ohio's "official" Secretary of State website -- which gave the world the presidential election results -- was redirected from an Ohio government server to a group of servers that contain scores of Republican web sites, including the secret White House e-mail accounts that have emerged in the scandal surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's firing of eight federal prosecutors. ...

Lisa Simpson for Governor

serafinapekkala — Tue, 12 Aug 2003 07:44:50 -0800

Save Our State: Vote Terry Tate. (NYT/rr) Remember the Reebok Superbowl ad featuring the "office linebacker"? Well, that actor just entered the California governor's race. As the bumpersticker says, "Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?" Name your pick for next has-been to get on the ballot...I smell Kato.

Are we using the worst voting procedure?

Quinn — Tue, 05 Nov 2002 11:27:40 -0800

Are we using the worst voting procedure? "Voting theorists argue that plurality voting is one of the worst of all possible choices." Plurality voting, in which each voter selects one canidate, is vulnerable to a third party spoiler (Nader) or with many canidates can lead to the (near) election of a candidate most voters despise (le Pen). Some alternative voting systems include instant runoff where canidates are ranked by voters, a Borda count where voters assigns points to each canidate, or approval system where voters vote for as many canidates as they like. (via argmax.com)

At $92.60 a Vote, Bloomberg Shatters an Election Record.

jennak — Tue, 04 Dec 2001 15:34:30 -0800

At $92.60 a Vote, Bloomberg Shatters an Election Record. Ross Perot spent about $3.59 per vote in his 1992 presidential race. The $68,968,185 price tag was more than Forbes and Corzine spent on their 2000 campaigns. Do candidates that essentially buy their elections gross you out, or do you feel better knowing that their money didn't come from PACs?

Should Election Day be a holiday?

owillis — Mon, 30 Jul 2001 17:14:27 -0800

Should Election Day be a holiday? Vote, then do some barbecue and watch fireworks... Will this be the development that could increase voter turnout, or will people just waste the day away? How else could voter turnout be improved?

Harris' Partisan Fixers

Postroad — Tue, 17 Jul 2001 04:24:30 -0800

Harris' Partisan Fixers How Bush got the help needed to "win" in Florida. No. Not the NY Times piece on absentee votes but how Harris rigged things.

FLASH: Gore Concedes.

baylink — Wed, 13 Dec 2000 18:17:07 -0800

FLASH: Gore Concedes. Ok, I guess *now* it's over. Bye, Alec...

And now for something different...

da5id — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 13:44:10 -0800

And now for something different... Or maybe not. Try voting for everybody. Who knows what will happen. Maybe Gore will win finally? (not sure if this was posted before, but found it funny.)