Cool Election Sites

As in the past, I am following the election pretty closely. This year, this means following it on-line.

In general, I find a lot of the election sites uninteresting. But, recently, I found a couple of cool, useful sites.

First, youtube.com and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) are collaborating on Video Your Vote. This non-partisan project is asking voters to record your election experiences. The organizers want a grassroots look at this historic event.

Upload a video of your experience with voting -- whether it’s shot at the polls on Election Day, an account of you casting an early vote, or you filming yourself filling out an absentee ballot. Document the energy and excitement, as well as any problems you encounter.

To me, this is a fascinating attempt to create an historic record of the election using Web 2.0 tools. Let us know if you upload to Video to Vote.

After voting irregularities in Florida, and Ohio cast doubts on the winner of the 2000 presidential election and the integrity of the 2004 process, voting rights activists are preparing themselves. There are several sites that are tracking voting problems in order to take action, if necessary, even before Election Day. One of these is Wired.

According to Problems Voting in the General Election?

“Had a problem casting your ballot in this year's general election? We want to hear from you….

Over the next weeks, if you have trouble at the polls, either during early voting or on Election Day, we'd like you to add your issue to our map. Be sure to provide as much detail as possible. You may also include links to video or audio….

Please note that we're not interested in hearing political rants. We're interested in hearing only about problems casting your ballot.”

The article lists specific types of problems that you may encounter.

Be prepared.

Finally, if you haven’t made up your mind for whom you will vote for president, let Glassbooth help you. Glassbooth analyzes your answers to questions about the issues of the day and matches you with one of the presidential candidates.

The process took me about 10 minutes, and gave me this result:


For more about the election this year, see our earlier posts on factcheck.com and voting in Oakland County, Michigan.

(Thanks to lifehacker.com for the Video Your Vote and GlassBooth links.)