Introduction

With only a week before the election, it’s clear that is there are still many barriers that may prevent legitimate voters from exercising their rights. False information from officials, confusing ballots, intimidation, ballots mistakenly not sent to voters, disappearing from voting rolls, lines long enough to cause multiple-hour waits, malfunctioning voting machines ... the list goes on. The broad movement of election protection and citizen journalism groups working to help come closer to the ideal of "one person one vote" -- and document the individual experiences so that America and the world knows how fair our election will be -- has made tremendous progress. What else can be done at the last minute to supplement these amazing efforts?

The announcement for the Voter Suppression Wiki's Workshop on Last-minute strategies to reduce voter suppression framed the possibilities:

There are so many groups doing great stuff here that there are lots of opportunities for synergy; at the same time, there’s also a lot of redundant effort, and lack of awareness of key assets like the 1-866-OUR-VOTE/1-888-VE-Y-VOTA hotlines. With so much going on in every state, use of social networks combined with community-based online/offline communication and media strategies could make a huge difference.

After four days of brainstorming, discussion, and sanity-checking our recommendations, some underlying themes emerged. Most importantly, there are easy opportunities to engage many more people -- not just activists -- in election protection activities. For example, why isn't hotline information, or links to the sites that allow voters to double-check their registration and polling place, displayed prominently on every blog, and online media site? At some level, it's as simple as "nobody's asked": the sites we queried thought this was a great idea, and were able to get basic information up very quickly.

Several of the other recommendations have also gotten some initial adoption: citizen journalism groups including additional resources in their volunteer toolkits, PSAs shown at community film series, a library interested in posting election protection information for its patrons, and so on. In the process, we're developing useful collateral such as sample HTML code to add voter protection links.

The challenge over the next week will be to get the word out more broadly. We hope that blogs and media who share the goal of protecting Americans' voting rights will not only adopt these recommendations, but also pass them along to their readers.

Recommendations

Online media, activism, and government sites should prominently feature non-partisan election protection information on their front page and all election-related pages

1. Include national hotline information (1-866-OUR-VOTE, 1-866-VE-Y-VOTA), links to sites allowing readers to find out where to vote (for example GoVote.org, vote411.org, and Google's map interface), and how they can protect their vote
   • the example on the right (from Pam's House Blend) illustrates best practices: graphics for visual interest, hotline number and GoVote.org information provided textually as well as graphically for downlevel connections and printouts. See this page for the code to put a 150 pixel and 350 pixel-wide version on your site.
   • if you have the space, include the digit-only equivalents as well: 1-866-687-8683 (for OUR-VOTE) and 1-888-839-8682 (for VE-Y-VOTA)
     
   • if you want to include video content, check out Election Protection's YouTube channel
     
2. If you've got a state or local focus, or reach to a specific community, make sure to highlight information those voters need to know
   • Consider providing links to state resources or information like AALDEF's Asian-langauge hotline, multi-lingual voter assistance, and information for voters with disabilities
   • Promote early voting--once a ballot is cast deceptive attacks become ineffective.
   • Encourage voters not to forward or share rumors or rules about voting i.e. voter ID requirements, polling locations or hours, etc. Each county and state may be different from their own. Direct all questions to 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-866-VE-Y-VOTA.
     
3. Journalists and bloggers should look for opportunities to provide more detailed election protection information as part of their stories and encourage their readers to share the information with their friends and families
   • When promoting early voting online make clear that states and localities have different rules
   • Include information about what readers should do if they have problems (local and national hotline numbers)
     
   • include the digit-only equivalents for 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683), 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (1-888-839-8682), and 1-866-MY-VOTE1 (1-866-698-6831)
     
   • Fact check information related to voting or the general election. Seek out and apply best practices for specific topics, for example Michael Connery's Tips For Reporting the Youth Vote on Future Majority.
     

Community hubs and activist groups should prominently highlight election protection information

1. Community centers, libraries, local businesses should have posters with phone numbers/web sites for state and local government, hotlines, etc. in their physical locations
   
2. Websites for community and voting rights activist groups should include election protection information on their front page
3. Community radio stations should emphasizes election protection information and PSAs as well as "get out the vote" encoragement
4. Community television stations and film series should take advantage of high-quality PSA's like those from New American Media
   

Voters, activists, and election administrators should prepare for a chaotic environment on election day

1. Get your polling location information far in advance of the election--like right now via http://GoVote.org, http://866ourvote.org, or calling 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-866-VE-Y-VOTA. Write down -- or print out -- information ahead of time in case internet sites are not accessible on election day.
   
2. Activists and election administrators should have lists of multiple hotline numbers in case the phones at Election Protection hotline and state/local governmental offices are overloaded
3. Voters should bring sample ballots with them to the voting location
   
4. The goal should be to make the election day as smooth as possible. If problems are encountered remain calm, be polite, do not blame poll workers; if it cannot be resolved, keep the lines moving through the polling location--call Election Protection for help 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-866-VE-Y-VOTA.
5. There have been reports that some polling locations are restricting the wearing of campaign buttons, shirts, etc. Bring jackets, sweaters, to cover shirts or buttons while in polling locations. The smoother things are at the front of the line the more people at the back will be able to vote; please don't cause unnecessary incidents that hamper others' voting experience.Remember that it is better to vote a provisional ballot than to not vote at all.
   

Citizen journalists and other activists monitoring elections should try to reduce voter suppression as well as document it

1. Bring printouts of "know your rights/what to do if you have a problem" to the polls so they can help other voters who are having problems. English-language information is available from http://866ourvote.org; Spanish-langauge information from http://veyvota.org. The AFL-CIO has one-page printable summaries for each state, and ACLU also has information for many states here.
   
2. Be familiar with the law (for example the information in Citizen Media Law Project's Documenting your vote) and take care to avoid disrupting the voting process
   
3. Know and rehearse "talking points" for convincing voters who are frustrated by long lines or difficult conditions to stay and vote
4. Spread the word about election protection information in general, not just citizen journalism activities
   

Election protection and community organizations should form local and national "hubs" for sharing resources information

1. Provide links to "one-page" information templates for voters suitable for printing out and emailing with information about local and national resources. A prototype is available from our Resources page. (Although it's longer than one page, English-language information is available from http://866ourvote.org; Spanish-langauge information from http://veyvota.org)
2. Provide instructions for activists to help spread the word -- and to get involved in citizen journalism activities.
   
3. Set up a local directory of organizations and volunteer opportunities

Election protection and citizen journalism projects should reach out to youth activists and students

1. Youth activists and students are natural candidates for expanding the reach of SMS- and social network-based projects to at-risk communities where these technologies are not as pervasive. As Twitter Vote Report's experience shows, these groups are very eager to partner when approached; they are likely to be an underutilized resource.

About the Workshop on Last-minute techniques to reduce voter suppression

The Workshop on Last-minute techniques to reduce voter suppression was held from October 25-28, headquartered at the Voter Suppression Wiki, with a goal of "concrete, actionable ideas that can make a difference in the short time between now and election day". Roughly 30 people participated via phone calls, online discussions, email, IM and chat; most were very new to voting rights activism, with a broad set of backgrounds including blogging, community organizing, technology, and media. The workshop's recommendations are unsurprisingly influenced by the characteristics of the participants, in particular their geographical diversity and community-based perspectives on election protection. For more about the workshop, see Jon Pincus' announcement and update on Liminal States.

About the Voter Suppression Wiki

The Voter Suppression Wiki is a non-partisan hub of information and action around efforts to suppress votes in the 2008 U.S. elections. For more information, please see our strategy and talking points; Baratunde Thurston’s Announcing The Launch Of The Voter Suppression Wiki - Learn, Report, Act on Jack and Jill Politics; Jon Pincus' A wiki, Saving democracy? on Liminal States; and the other links on our blogging about VSWiki page.