Twitter Vote Report is Now Live

Recently I've mentioned a number of vote protection projects in passing. As we get closer to election day, and continue to hear about misleading information, long wait lines at polls, and other instances of voter suppression/discouragement, I wanted to give one of them a bigger shout-out.

Today, the Twitter Vote Report website officially launched. This is a really interesting project that is attempting to use technology and crowdsourcing to highlight and resolve common election-day problems. Here's the description from their presser:

A volunteer network of software developers, designers, and other collaborators have teamed up with the award-winning blog techPresident to launch Twitter Vote Report. Individual voters will use their cell phones to report on their individual experiences – the good, bad and ugly. How long is the wait in Cleveland, Ohio? Are the new optical scan machines staying up and running in Palm Beach County,Florida? Is failure to bring ID to the polls thwarting first-time voters in Indianapolis? With Twitter Vote Report, we’ll know the answers to those questions straight from voters from all over the country.

If you are familiar with Twitter, here are step by step instructions on how to report problems at your polling place (If you are a novice, here's a primer):

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 where you’re voting; ex., “#12345″
• #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

That last part is significant. If someone is erroneously telling you that you are not allowed to vote, or is preventing others from voting, there is no guarantee that just sending a Tweet solve that problem. Texting the election protection coalition, or calling their toll free number (866-OUR-VOTE) is still a necessary step.

What will happen when you Tweet (theoretically), is that local journalists and activists will become aware of the situation on the ground. That can create grassroots and media pressure to correct the situation, or in a worst case scenario, influence the post-election story and help institute reforms before future elections.

#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.

Right now, the Election Protection Coalition, Rock the Vote, Credo Mobile, and Common Cause are working with Twitter Vote Report, but any organization, blogger, or reporter can follow the feeds to find out what is happening in their area. This should be interesting project to follow on E-Day.