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29 October 2008

MyFairElection

My colleague, Archon Fung, in conjunction with ABC news, has launched a "crowd sourcing" initiative to identify problems at polling places, called MyFairElection. A full description is below. Please do forward on this information, and contribute information to the project. Here are the details:

MyFairElection is an exciting project to help make the vote fair and accessible this November 4th. To participate, simply sign up (instructions below) to rate your experience of voting this year.

Did you encounter specific problems such as long lines, confusing ballots, broken machines, or closed polling places? Or, was the process of voting quite pleasant and easy?

As thousands of citizens rate their voting experiences, MyFairElection will produce a real-time "weather map" of voting conditions across the country. This map will allow viewers to see where it is easy to vote, and where people have encountered obstacles. Journalists, advocates, officials, and citizens can use this map to address obstacles to voting in real time.

So, go to this link and sign up. You will be asked to rate your voting experience on election day. You can comment, describe particular problems, and even submit pictures.

MyFairElection.com is a project of MyFairElection and ABC News. ABC News will feature the heat map as part of their election day coverage. Journalists will use the information that you submit to help identify and report on election day ballot problems.

Here are more detailed instructions.

Register [Do this before election day, November 4!]

In order to submit your polling place observations, you must create an account on MyFairElection.com.

Step 1: Use an Internet browser (such as Explorer, FireFox, or Safari) on your computer to go to this link:

Step 2: In the upper left hand corner, you will see a box to "Sign up Now." Enter your email address, your zip code, then click "submit."

Step 3: You will receive an email message from MyFairElection.com. Keep this message! You will use the link in that message to submit your polling place ratings on election day.

You will also receive an email message from myfairelection.com on election day reminding you to vote and to rate your voting experience.

Rate a polling place on the web:

Step 1: Go to the link provided in your registration email message. It will look something like this:http://myfairelection.com/rate/7ebe4eb. You don't have to type it in; just click on the link from your email program or copy the link and paste it into your browser window.

If you've deleted the email message from MyFairElection.com or can't find it, just register again. You'll receive another message with the link.

Step 2: After you clink on the link, your browser will take you to the ratings page.

Use the ratings page to tell us about your polling experience: one star is terrible and five stars is excellent.

You can also report specific problems, offer general comments, and even upload pictures of your voting experience on this page. After you've filled in the appropriate spaces, click "Submit."

That's it! Use the map of the U.S. that will appear on myfairelection.com on November 4th to view ratings from people all over the country.

Rate a polling place by email:

If you're on the road on election day, you can also submit ratings by email, on a PDA such as a BlackBerry or iPhone. Note that we will accept email ratings only from registered users.

Step 1: Create a new email message addressed to rate@myfairelection.com

Step 2: In the body of that email message, enter
(1) your zip-code
(2) 1 to 5 asterisks ("***") for overall rating
(3) any comments you might have [one line only!]

And send the message! You will receive an email message that verifies receipt of your rating.

Thank you for participating in MyFairElection!

Posted by David Lazer at October 29, 2008 10:12 AM

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