“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.
posted on Jan 5, 2008 - View this thread

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.]
posted on Aug 29, 2007 - View this thread

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.]
posted on Aug 27, 2007 - View this thread

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]
posted on Aug 15, 2007 - View this thread

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.
posted on Apr 26, 2007 - View this thread

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...
posted on Oct 25, 2006 - View this thread

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?
posted on Jul 3, 2006 - View this thread

Diebold boss resigns pending fraud investigation
posted on Dec 13, 2005 - View this thread

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.
posted on Dec 6, 2004 - View this thread

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.
posted on Nov 18, 2004 - View this thread

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.
posted on Nov 7, 2004 - View this thread

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.
posted on Nov 5, 2004 - View this thread

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.
posted on Nov 1, 2004 - View this thread

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."
posted on Oct 22, 2004 - View this thread

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.
posted on Oct 20, 2004 - View this thread

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.
posted on Sep 27, 2004 - View this thread

Monkey hacks Diebold voting machine. Really.
posted on Sep 23, 2004 - View this thread

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.
posted on Aug 31, 2004 - View this thread

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?
posted on Aug 16, 2004 - View this thread

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?
posted on Jun 18, 2004 - View this thread

factcheck.org -- a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.
posted on Mar 28, 2004 - View this thread

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.
posted on Feb 19, 2003 - View this thread

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.
posted on Nov 18, 2002 - View this thread

When in doubt, blame the software. Who is the governor of Alabama? Both incumbent candidate Don Siegelmand and Republican opponent Bob Riley have claimed victories. The answer lies in the hands of Baldwin County officials, who claim a software glitch "miscounted" almost 7,000 votes. [more inside]
posted on Nov 6, 2002 - View this thread

Today, Georgia becomes the first state in the US to have standardized, state-wide electronic voting. Not wanting to be "the next Florida", Georgia spent nearly $60M to go from paper punch cards to touch screens. What's in store, fame or infamy? After using the computer myself and hearing raves from all the sweet old ladies, I'll bet on the former.
posted on Nov 5, 2002 - View this thread

We don't need more voters, we need better voters "Far from urging everyone to vote, perhaps the media might better urge those who are going to vote to first make sure that they have heard both sides of the issues at stake, instead of just voting by habit, whim, or according to the image or rhetoric of the candidates. A case could be made that those who have not informed themselves on the issues have a patriotic duty to stay away from the polls on Election Day, rather than mess with something that is too important to be decided by ignorance or prejudice. " Is Tom's suggestion an attack on a civic institution/central tenet of democracy, or a needed improvement? I share the opinion that uninformed voter turnout is a greater problem than low voter turnout, and I know I'm not alone, but I prefer the approach of those who promote use of emerging information resources, especially the incredible Project Vote Smart, rather than simply complaining. Why don't Sowell -- or for that matter, the rest of traditional media -- push these organizations? What can we do about it -- other than posting on Metafilter?
posted on Nov 4, 2002 - View this thread

Another election debacle in Florida. One year and $30m in technology later, the Reno/McBride primary is marred by late openings and other assorted and sundry glitches. I know, it's a CNN link, but I can't resist anything that includes someone delivering the grade "F-minus-minus-minus" (later determined to be merely an "F-minus-minus" and some Drambuie). Any personal voting horror stories from our Florida contingent? Will the state become a case study in how "throwing money at the problem" never works?
posted on Sep 12, 2002 - View this thread

Florida to settle 2000 election lawsuit. Major provisions include a promise for massive reforms in voter registration, voter-roll maintenance and polling practices, as part of the lawsuit pushed by the NAACP. Granted, it's good that a large angered group is "getting over it" as many (even on this board) have still been explaining, but should skeptics (read: Democrats) such as myself read the Florida legislature's desire to settle as a sign that they may not have thought they would have won against charges of rigging the election?
posted on Aug 31, 2002 - View this thread

Which America Will We Be Now? You can help us decide: Vote in your local elections today.
posted on Nov 6, 2001 - View this thread

It looks like McGreevey Leads Schundler in NJ governors race and Virginia's race is too close to call. With election day just around the corner, which election races are you watching?
posted on Oct 25, 2001 - View this thread

Tony Blair For President! Seriously, I'd vote for him. What are the chances that the Democrats can recruit Mr. Blair to run? Also, the LA Times thinks Tony Blair Puts Bush to Shame. What do you think?
posted on Oct 8, 2001 - View this thread

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?
posted on Jul 30, 2001 - View this thread

Vote early, vote often. (With apologies for sticking this on the front page.) Using your skill and judgement, predict the winning party in the UK general election, size of the majority, and the number of seats won by the Lib Dems. Closest to the actual result gets a gift subscription to Private Eye, the fortnightly antidote to British politics and media, or the equivalent value in that international currency: Amazon vouchers. (And if you've emailed me already, there's no need to post a prediction.)
posted on Jun 7, 2001 - View this thread

It's simple: Don't let the blacks vote, your guy "wins". "Florida's conduct of the 2000 presidential election was marked by "injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency" that unfairly penalized minority voters, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has concluded in a report that criticizes top state officials -- particularly Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- for allowing disparate treatment of voters."

"A computer analysis by The Post showed that the more black and Democratic a precinct, the more likely it was to suffer high rates of invalidated votes."

"No inquiry so far has been as broad as that conducted by the commission -- or as specifically focused on the rights of minorities. The commission held three days of hearings, interviewed 100 witnesses and reviewed 118,000 documents."
posted on Jun 5, 2001 - View this thread

Wouldn't it be awesome if there were a web site where you could see the actual voting records of elected officials?
posted on Mar 9, 2001 - View this thread

St. Louis Sees Specter of Vote Fraud. Chicago hands over the title of Most Vote-Rigged City in America. Remember the Election Day lawsuit that Democrats filed in St. Louis to illegally extend voting hours (which was successful for 45 minutes)? Turns out the chief plaintiff was dead. And that's only one anecdote from this story. Will meaningful election reform ever be allowed in this country, when it would mean closing all the loopholes that are routinely used to rig the results? (NYTimes link, registration required)
posted on Mar 4, 2001 - View this thread

If the election left you with an odd feeling that something was not right in Florida, you're not alone.
posted on Feb 25, 2001 - View this thread

The latest iteration of the Great Chad Count of 2001 has been announced. Some news organizations finally announce specifics about their planned gang-recount. They'll pay a nonprofit firm to "inventory" the votes, but each news organization will decide separately what the results mean. And one paper is holding an entirely separate count of its own. Inside.com summarizes: "When the laborious process is completed in 8 to 10 weeks, look for an orgy of tea-leaf discernment as any news organization willing to share in the costs will be free to spin and analyze the results in any way they please."
posted on Jan 9, 2001 - View this thread

The current RISKS Digest carries a manifesto of sorts from Peter Neumann (of RISKS), Lauren Weinstein (of PRIVACY DIGEST) and Rebecca Mercuri (one of the AT&T voting wonks, if memory serves) on the dangers of electronic and Internet voting in the current technological milieu. Let's fix the problems, yes, but let's not create worse ones in the process.
posted on Dec 15, 2000 - View this thread

Election Phone Calls Sorry if this has been posted before, but I just found out today.
posted on Dec 14, 2000 - View this thread

YASL: Yet another Salon link. This could be the smoking gun. Or just smoke. Judgement?
posted on Dec 5, 2000 - View this thread

When you're an aiga member they send you e-mail, I usualy don't read them, because they're accouncements of conferences and such, but this one was about Chicago enlisting the help of AIGA to design new election ballots. 'Some possibilities for making Chicago ballots more user-friendly include enlarging candidates' names, changing the font size, altering the color of pages, making wider ballot booklets.' Since I couldn't find the article on-line, I'll just cut-n-paste the e-mail inside. :)
posted on Dec 2, 2000 - View this thread

Chicago to enlist graphic designers for friendlier ballots. [free reg may be req'd] There's been a bunch of discussion about the usability problems with various voting systems, notably punch-card ballots. Chicago didn't have anything as dramatic as a "butterfly" prexy ballot or two pages' worth of candidates, but we still had close to 120,000 discards from 2.1 million votes -- and when compared with jurisdictions using other systems, there's little evidence to suggest that voters are skipping the presidential ballot. That's just how bad manual punch card technology is. Even if we can't get rid of them just yet, at least we can make sure they aren't confusing. Did I just post the twenty-sixth link on Metafilter today? GO AWAY. METAFILTER IS FULL. :)
posted on Nov 29, 2000 - View this thread

Doesn't this site violate Canada election laws? They claim they will be posting election results as the polls close. Under Canadian law, time zones that are still voting aren't allowed to know who is winning further east. First up: Newfoundland.
posted on Nov 27, 2000 - View this thread

Looks like the end is in sight. And I'm glad. I'm so sick of the political rhetoric I could puke. I wish more people could address these issues with clear thinking, instead of defaulting to the rhetoric of the side they tend to favor. If anyone else says 'The American people want...' I will puke. Looks like Bush is going to win. Who cares? Nader is right: they've both been bought and sold. People who harp on 'the very clear policy differences' aren't making enough allowances for the other dynamics.
posted on Nov 22, 2000 - View this thread

DISQUALIFY MILITARY VOTES : A how-to.
posted on Nov 20, 2000 - View this thread

The Bush campaign is seeking contributions to fund the Florida recount and here I am thinking that they were fighting the recount. I'm sorry to add a link to the political chaos but the Bush campaign just baffles me to no end. Could some objective non-partisan please stand up for the people's constitutional right to franchisement?
posted on Nov 13, 2000 - View this thread

NY Times report on voting problems in Palm Beach "...some precinct workers said that they were under strict instructions to turn away people asking for voting assistance — mainly out of fear that it would slow down the voting. Louise Austin, a precinct worker in Boynton Beach, said she and other workers at her precinct turned away voters who besieged them with questions. "People were coming up to me," Ms. Austin said, "and I had to follow the directive — `Don't help anyone. Don't talk to anyone.' "
posted on Nov 11, 2000 - View this thread

ELECTION: A note of sanity on voting systems from Lauren Weinstein's well-worth reading Privacy Digest; it notes the inherent weak spots in all voting tally systems, and compares manual to machine and electronic ones.
posted on Nov 11, 2000 - View this thread

Did the INS import votes?
posted on Nov 11, 2000 - View this thread

Wherefore art thou, NM? "Amid the intense legal and public relations battle for Florida and its 25 electoral votes, Al Gore may have lost a state: New Mexico."
posted on Nov 10, 2000 - View this thread

Math Against Tyranny... A mathmatician discusses the virtues of the Electoral College.
posted on Nov 10, 2000 - View this thread

19,000 Fla Ballots Nullified. ...and allegedly Gore was only behind in the state by 1800. This is gonna get interesting.
posted on Nov 8, 2000 - View this thread

And now, on to the courts. I don't think this has a chance, nor am I sure if it is even a good idea.
posted on Nov 8, 2000 - View this thread

US Votes Republican -- except for all the people. Anyone still need an explanation of the Electoral College?
posted on Nov 8, 2000 - View this thread

What a shock: your votes does count.
posted on Nov 8, 2000 - View this thread

In Oregon, the turnout is expected to be 84% because everyone in Oregon votes by mail. I bet no other state comes anywhere close to that kind of turnout. This will definitely get the attention of other states; don't be surprised if others do it in two years.
posted on Nov 7, 2000 - View this thread

Remember: Don't Vote!
posted on Nov 6, 2000 - View this thread

Here is the best reason I've seen yet not to vote.
posted on Nov 6, 2000 - View this thread

Homeless given Cigarettes to vote for Gore - Would they have wanted that kind of help if it wasn't caught on video tape? Maybe they should just steal the social security numbers of the dead and have THEM vote via mail-in. (See also: Zombies for Gore) [Links via Fark]
posted on Nov 6, 2000 - View this thread

"I think the secretary of state is clamping down on pure political speech," says the ACLU, as they gear up to try to reopen Voteswap2000 and other vote-swapping sites.
posted on Nov 2, 2000 - View this thread

Jesse Ventura talks about his bid at Governership and voting your conscience. There's more than a little in common here between his campaign and Ralph's.
posted on Nov 1, 2000 - View this thread

A better way to select party candidates.
Instead of holding silly primaries that end up picking the worst possible candidates from each party, why not have party leaders pick the best 3-4 candidates and then have registered party members vote (by mail or at the convention) and announce the winner in August? [more inside]
posted on Oct 27, 2000 - View this thread

Undecided voters aren't stupid after all. They're just waiting to see which candidate will best achieve their goal of governmental gridlock, which will be determined primarily by how control of Congress shakes out.
posted on Oct 24, 2000 - View this thread

I just got polled for the presidential election . . .and they didn't even mention Nader's name as a choice for president! I had to tell them 'I am voting for Ralph Nader." Ralph is pulling 6% in recent national polls. This really gets me steamed that they don't include his name in the %#@*!! polls.
posted on Oct 22, 2000 - View this thread

A friendly, non-partisan reminder: If you haven't done so already, you've exactly 10 days left to register to vote. If you've had a change of address recently, you'll need to register again. Remember, this election isn't simply about the presidency. Depending on where you live, every office from congressperson to school board president could be up for grabs. Register now, and make a difference in November!
posted on Sep 30, 2000 - View this thread

7-Eleven has Gore, Bush and No Opinion cups. Then on their website is a 7-Election page using daily sale results from 5000 of their stores, you can see which cup is being chosen the most. (The cup gets scanned at the register and each cup has it's own UPC.) Right now the natonal cumulative results are 20% Gore 20% Bush and 60% No Opinion. Very neat idea, they also have links to register to vote for real.
posted on Sep 15, 2000 - View this thread

Presidential election projection, based on likely Electoral College votes. Which is the right way to do it, after all. The guy running the page is the editor of Web, White, & Blue, an online digest of political news from around the Web. Seems very even handed. The projections come from state-by-state polling data, and change as new polls come in. Current leader: Gore, by 34 out of 535 votes.
posted on Sep 7, 2000 - View this thread

Turn ballot stubs into lottery tickets and watch voter apathy disappear. What a great idea. Maybe financed by campaign contributions?
via Camworld via rc3.org.
posted on Sep 1, 2000 - View this thread

Face it: Gore doesn't have a chance. -- So what is going on? In an illuminating essay, Bijan Parsia suggests a cheap way that Gore might 'soften his anti-progressive image', but then concludes wisely that 'that image isn't merely skin deep'. Barbara Ehrenreich argues along similar lines. So will Gore lose because he has permanently alienated the progressive vote, or for other reasons? And regardless, what will a Bush victory mean for progressives? (more inside...)
posted on Aug 19, 2000 - View this thread

Registered to vote yet? Register on-line here, it doesn't actually register you, it just sends a letter with your info to your home address that you sign and mail to your state's election office who's address is on the envelope. The transaction is also over a https connection. Personally, I just want to show the temps in the election office how hip and wired I am.
posted on Aug 6, 2000 - View this thread

Pledge to be a part of the 2000 GLBT voter turnout. Straight, gay, bi...all signatures are welcome. Remember that for evil to triumph all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing.

And take to heart the words of Martin Niemoeller: "In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
posted on Apr 25, 2000 - View this thread

If you're in Arizona, you'll be able to vote online for your Democratic Primary candidate this year. Nuts! I can't wait to see how this works out. All I can think is that it will be a security nightmare and hell on server resources to do that many writes to a database in a short period of time. I hope it's a success, and spreads to my state, so I won't have to go through the trouble of finding my polling place, waiting in line, and getting to work on time. You want voter participation to go above 20%? Make it easier.
posted on Jan 18, 2000 - View this thread