Workshop

Heading into the last ten days before the election, it’s clear that is there are still huge opportunities to reduce voter suppression. How to make best use of this time? 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.

Help make sure every voter can vote and every vote counts. This wiki page is the headquarters, and will have information about other discussions going on — conference calls, chat rooms, blog threads, other wikis. Our goal is to come out of the session with concrete, actionable ideas that can make a difference in the short time between now and election day.

This workshop follows on the recent E-Deceptive Campaign Practices: Internet Technology & Democracy 2.0 report, which was written to raise public awareness of online voter suppression, and inform voters, Election Protection, and Election Administrators, and media on how they can all play a role in reducing the effectiveness of voter suppression tactics.

Please get involved in the discussion, either in the discussion threads at the bottom, or by editing this page directly … and just as importantly, let your friends and colleagues know about the workshop. And check back for updates … Facebook event here. Please invite your friends!

Schedule of events

A rough schedule:

• October 25: conference call, 1 PM PDT, kicking off wiki/blog/Facebook discussions. notes here.
• October 26: brainstorming; discussion on Forward Forum at 8-9 CDT, on the air in Madison and streamed live at WTDY. follow-on live chat, location/format TBD. See the discussions page for more.
• October 27: choose and refine recommendations; conference call in the afternoon (details to follow)
• October 28: finalize report and press release, start media outreach
• October 29: media call — see information above

Topics

1. Increase awareness of the 1-866-OUR-VOTE/1-888-VE-Y-VOTA Election Protection hotlines, NDRN’s information for voters with disabilities, AALDEF’s Asian-language hotline at 800-966-5946 and other election-day resources. In a discussion thread, indiandi commented “I asked several people (friends and family in IN, MI and OH) what they would do if they had trouble voting — AND NO ONE HAD AN ANSWER!” This also applies to state-specific informaiton like the NAACP and ACLU Virginia hotlines. In many cases there’s information posted at the polls, and pollworkers are likely to be helpful; still, it’s likely to minimize problems delays if as many people as possible go to the polls prepared. How can we supplement the other awareness work going on?
2. Will Voting Early reduce the likelihood of falling victim to E-Deceptive Campaign tactics?
3. Get the word out more effectively and quickly about action alerts like North Carolina “straight party” ballots?
4. Further leverage existing high-quality assets like New America Media’s Voter education PSAs (available in multiple languages with state-specific information) and the ACLU’s Virginia Voter cards?
5. Better systematize techniques for online/offline communications, via email, flyers and notices at hubs like coffee shops and libraries, MySpace and Facebook, radio and TV, blogs, and community and independent media? see our community media strategy page for more.
6. Uncover effective ways for students to get involved, both to help preserve students’ voting rights and more broadly? discussion thread here … also being discussed on Facebook
7. Inspire people to get involved with Twitter Vote Report and other monitoring projects work to REDUCE (not just document) voter suppression on election day and before? discussion thread here.
8. Prepare for increased visibility, because we may become a target for those who want to suppress votes — and for mischief-makers in general. How to prepare for this? see the threat modeling pages for the Voter Suppression Wiki and for Twitter Vote Report
9. Respond to new forms of e-deceptive campaign practices and find ways to address this. (see Julian Sanchez’ and Sarah Lai Stirland‘s report on the recent EPIC.org Technology and Democracy 2.0 report, as well as ongoing reports like spam texts in Ohio and deceptive email in Texas) looking for somebody to lead a discussion here — please contact JonPincus on the wiki if you’re interested!
10. Encourage journalists and bloggers to include hotline/resource information with all stories about voting issues. See the recommendations for journalists and bloggers page for more.
11. Is there a role for high school students, for example, helping with alerts about polling place extensions; or providing information (and twittering?) to people in line? See the discussion thread here.