How to find neighbors who think they are registered but probably aren't
Adam Savage says: "My wife has been working for these folks. I'm passing it on to you in case you're interested. It's sooper inportant. They are non-partisan, btw."
Project Vote has now posted online lists of people (with their addresses) who filed registration applications in various counties but who were not put on the voter rolls by election authorities because of alleged or actual deficiencies in their applications.Project Vote 2008The list is available at www.ProjectVote2008.org.
The lists will be supplemented as we get new ones.
This should be extremely valuable in helping 501c3 groups around the country locate people who think they are properly registered – but aren't – either correct their registrations or file new, correct ones before the deadline so that they can vote November 4th.
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I'm giving away free "ut"s today in exchange for a single "y".
Come an' get 'im!
I don't think they correctly anticipated the demand: "We are sorry, but this site has exceeded its bandwidth limit at this time. Please try again later. For more information, see Google Sites help."
Note to self: check back later.
Better hurry; many states have a deadline of 30 days before the election, which is Wednesday. In a couple of states the deadline was today. For the state by state rules see
http://www.declareyourself.com/voting_faq/state_by_state_info_2.html
If Project Vote (or the gub'mint) have the names and addresses, why not just mail them directly?
Also, how did Project Vote obtain these names and addresses? The gub'mint is just giving these things away? Is posting names and addresses without permission appropriate?
*headdesk* There's gotta be some privacy guru who's going to raise a stink about this.
Personally, privacy seems like such a 20th century concept.
I'm one of those privacy gurus. As per boingboing guidelines I won't link it here but my current blog has some information about voter registration privacy issues. For example, how I can simply use a public information database and obtain your voter registration information. Scary.
@3-Zuzu-I'm debating whether or not to throw that in my blog with all the other voter related stuff, it is one of my faves.
Nice post though Mark.
wynneth,
You can link to your blog post if it's topical and informative. It's the generic home page links that are a problem.
I think it's great that a group is trying to get people properly registered. Now that they are properly registered, are these people going to actually vote, since you know of course, "This is the most important election in our lifetimes..."
Get out the Vote
Vote or Die
If you aren't voting I don't know how to talk to you
blah blah blah.
Do I vote for Gasbag A or Gasbag B. Gasbag A will really screw up our country while Gasbag B will screw it up, twist it, tie it in a knot, then burn it.
Or better yet we get to vote for members of congress...I guess they couldn't get jobs at Wal-Mart as greeters.
I applaud all of your efforts though, remember to Vote, it's really super important.
@8: Wynneth, it's no more of an invasion of privacy than any of a number of long-available public information: phone directories, property records, court documents, etc. Like any other thing with potentially nefarious uses (chemistry sets, fertilizer, knives) you have to weigh the potential benefits against the potential for malicious use. Being able to properly target political literature to people who might be interested saves innumerable trees and postal workers' backs.
Also, I think it good that some of these databases get opened up to ordinary citizens, and not just the major political parties and marketers.
@ ZUZU and DHALGREN
don't vote for the president if you want... but remember that this person will probably be appointing a few new Supreme Court Justices in their term. Are you familiar with the Supreme Court and the power they have? good, now name me one case besides Roe v. Wade you disagree with!!! har har ... just kidding.
Seriously though. I live in California, and I am excite to be able to vote on Prop 8 (gay marriage ban), Prop 2 (animal confinement rights) and Prop 5 (nonviolent drug offenses and rehabilitation). You're damn right I'm excited to vote... and yes, I think my vote counts. It will count just as much as the rest of the votes I have helped to organize amongst my friends, neighbors and co-workers.
Are you familiar with your local representatives and Propositions on the upcoming ballot?! There may be something that affects you on there.
Now, Please vote. For all of our sakes.
#8: You can also put your homepage in your profile, and it appears with a little spanner graphic next to your name on all your posts. This is the allowed BB policy.
@#5: Ever hear do the Freedom of Information Act? It's public record, anyone can request this info and get it. As to why the government haven't acted, they probably don't care enough.
I'm glad i don't live in America..
Imagine coming to your door dressed only in your underwear, to be greated with 50 of your nosiest neighbours pointing out that you filled in the form wrong.. dufus.
What CORNBALLER said:
Vote. Doesn't matter what side you support. If you really want to make a difference, get involved. As an activist, you will bring hundreds of votes to the polls. Now, that's meaningful.
It is my understanding that most citizens in democracies -- in Europe and Asia -- are automatically registered to vote.
Why is it that the US has an archaic system that does not automatically register all citizens to vote?
And why do we vote on Tuesdays and not on weekends like in other parts of the world?
Why arent people automaticaly registered to vote as we are in Canada?
This story was posted 39 minutes before the deadline to register for residents of Virginia, a swing state this year.
And by the time I read it, the deadline had already passed. It's an interesting story, but a little late.
This might be a dumb question, but is the Adam Savage who submitted this the one from Mythbusters?
What Glatt said. (Also DC, although they're not a swing anything, ever.)
"Vote. Doesn't matter what side you support."
i'm not sure that this is all that productive an idea.
It does matter who you vote for because even if they loose that schmuck will go around thinking that people like/agree/support his crazy plans. Vote for people you agree with, if there aren't any not vote for one. (and if you can be assed go and do something about it)
I personally haven't voted for years, mostly because I've never found anyone i want to give my support to. I do think there should be a 'none of the above' option. the current method of doing this (ink the UK) is to spoil the ballot paper, which just makes it seem like a some old confused people couldn't figure out the instructions and just had a bt of an accident.
@18: Actually, in Canada we are not automatically registered to vote. There are things you can do to get your name on the list, such as checking the box on your tax return, and of course (most importantly) you can register at the polling place when you go there to vote.
There is a registration deadline that exists, but only for those that want to vote by mail or by special ballot.
@23: Similarly here in New Hampshire you don't need to register in advance -- the first time you vote you just show up at the polling place with proper ID and fill out a form. The only reason people register in advance here is to avoid having to wait in line to fill our the form on election day.
Too bad I didn't see this sooner, as registration forms had to be postmarked in Pennsylvania by yesterday.
And a couple of the people on this list are right in my area.
Shoot.
The notion that we should be encouraging everyone to vote is somewhat strange. I have been registered to vote in three states over the years and I have to say that the process has always been extremely easy. If someone cannot properly fill out a very simple form, what are the odds that this person has the mental capacity to have an informed opinion that is valuable to the direction the country should take?
I am not proposing anything as strenuous as even a literacy test or any other impediments be erected. I am simply saying that we should re-examine exactly why we would want to do this sort of thing. Far be it from me to suggest that we would want the best minds in the country deciding such issues as president or anything else of consequence. When it comes down to it, any of the votes dredged up in this manner are most likely to be ones that are least informed.
Perhaps a minimal political literacy test should be on the ballot itself. Something as simple as a multiple choice question about the name of the current president and vice president.