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Election Journal: Web 2.0 Takes on Vote Fraud

Submitted by mikeroman on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 13:12
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A critical conservative Web 2.0 success story you all should know about. -Patrick

Election Journal was developed to provide news and information concerning voting fraud and other irregularities. The point of view differs from the majority of other web-sites dedicated to this issue in that the culprit is not the “vast-right wing conspiracy.” In fact, EJ seeks to broaden the dialogue with commentary and independent investigation of incidents that have gone largely unreported by the MSM.

The early success of Election Journal has been our ability to publicly document Election Day irregularities, polling problems and instances of fraud in real time by integrating new media strategies through the use of video, pictures, maps, and live updates.
 
 
Offering readers a realistic depiction of how election day plays out in hotly contested races has proven highly popular; the appeal and “viral” effect of Election Journal’s content shows that there is a void for this type of commentary. The potential exists for EJ to expand and successfully provide a balanced message to this often overlooked, yet critical, topic.
 
Our first attempt at covering an election was the April 22 Pennsylvania Primary. With a handful of volunteers, some consumer level equipment (handheld video recorders, digital cameras, laptops, a microphone), aggressive use of new media tools (Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Google Relational Maps, an incident reporting plugin) and social networking (Facebook, MySpace, del.icio.us, and Plaxo) we set out to provide a real time on-the-ground perspective not seen before.
 
In addition to front-page posts, the EJ website embeds the Twitter updates and Flickr photos of correspondents which can be viewed on the front page. This is an effective means of both alerting followers to new or developing stories and offering anecdotal information where no further investigation will be forthcoming.
 
The tipping point in PA was the discovery of a McDonald’s in Philly offering a “free sandwich with a voter registration card.” I taped a video interview with an Obama volunteer outside of the McDonalds that had over 70 cross posts (I was unable to get the manager to speak to me). 
 
But, it was an incident in Indiana on May 6 that was the real breakthrough and showed the power of web 2.0 to disseminate information of vote fraud as it is happening. I entered a polling place in Indianapolis (with proper credentials) and saw an Obama volunteer actively offering to assist voters. She was literally in spitting distance from the voter check-in table and voting booths with an official looking sign that said “Trouble Voting? Talk to me. Obama for America.” I took video with my Sony handheld (as permitted under Indiana law), loaded it up on YouTube and posted it with the question “Is this legal?”
 
Within hours of posting the video on the website, syndicating it to Twitter, Youtube, and Digg the video and story went viral with hundreds of cross-posts, retweets, and over 50,000 Youtube views. Many of the cross-posts came from the main stream media and influential blogs. The most significant was an official apology from the Obama campaign posted by Jake Tapper on ABC’s Political Punch, Marc Ambinder from the National Journal, and influential blogs such as Redstate. 
 
These cheap, available and highly effective new media tools allowed EJ to break news in a revolutionary way and should be an example of how far citizen journalism has come as well as an indication of where it is going.  
 
EJ was influencing stories on Election Day with just a few dedicated volunteers, personal media gear, and the use of free new media technologies. 
 
To put it in perspective: one person with a camera caused a Presidential Campaign at the National Level to address the illegal behavior of a volunteer in a polling place in Indianapolis. Think of the potential of every voter and volunteer with a cell phone camera and a twitter account to expose fraud and irregularities in real time. 
 
A rumor of electioneering inside of a polling place cannot compare to a photo of a campaign volunteer attempting to offer “assistance” inside of a poll or of a gubernatorial candidate shaking hands with voters directly outside of the voting booth.
 
Suspicions of a political machine running up fraudulent absentee ballots cannot compare to a political boss boasting that no one, including the State Attorney General, can stop him from collecting ballots from people “registered from a park bench.” 
 
All that is needed is a platform for media sources to discover and publish these stories and reports. That is the critical role that Election Journal plays: allowing these accounts to reach the influential main stream and new media outlets. 
 
Going forward, we will continue to grow our presence as an Election Day watchdog; pursue suspicious activity through independent research; and broadcast incidents of fraud, cheating, dirty tricks and other election news.
 
If you are interested in being an EJ correspondent in an upcoming election in your state, or have  information concerning irregularities and fraud – please contact me through the EJ Tipline. 

 

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Comments

Great Conservative Cause

Submitted by Jeff Roberts on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 15:45.

This is an issue conservatives need to be vigilant about, and it's an issue that the public overwhelming agrees with us on.  We should constantly be pushing to get every state  to require I.D. and proof of citizenship in order to vote, it's really a no brainer.  The public doesn't buy the spin from the Democrats that showing a driver's license is voter intimidation, especially when they have to show a driver's license for all sorts of meaningless tasks.

This election is going to be a challenge, because I can see MAJOR voter fraud going on in predominantly black inner cities with Obama on the top of the ticket.  I know that's politically incorrect to say, but it's the truth.  In states that are going to be close like Pennsylvania and Michigan, voter fraud in cities like Philadelphia and Detroit could easily be the deciding factor.

We need poll watchers staked out in these high risk areas, and conservatives that live near these areas need to step up and help out.

Amen to that

Submitted by Soren Dayton on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 16:19.

Mike is doing a great job. We all need to get the word out on this stuff.

Interesting. My husband and I

Submitted by Lisa on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 15:59.

Interesting. My husband and I ran into what would be called voting irregularities during the primary. We even considered taking pictures and posting them. This site is good to know about.

Great Site!

Submitted by texicali on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 01:17.

What a great site!  I'm a huge proponent of reporting election fraud and stopping it so I'm intersted in what you're doing.  I did send you an email to your tipline a few minutes ago and bookmarked your site.  Fraud happens all over the country and the upcoming general election will be one of the worst we've ever had....vigilence will be required