Today, November 7th, 2006, midterm elections are being held in the United States. Punknews.org urges Americans to know your candidates and issues and make sure your voice is heard.
It was said by a fictional press secretary on a television show, but seems very apropos:
Twenty-five years ago half of all 18 to 24 year olds voted. Today it's 25%. 18 to 24 year olds represent 33% of the population but only account for 7% of the voters. Think government isn't about you? How many of you have student loans to pay? How many have credit card debt? How many want clean air and clean water and civil liberties? How many want jobs? How many want kids? How many want their kids to go to good schools and walk on safe streets?Decisions are made by those who show up.
As with the 2004 election, Electoral Vote will be tracking the results.
This advice comes courtesy of Avi Rubin, a computer science professor from Johns Hopkins University.
- Check your voter registration card and sample ballot that you hopefully received in the mail to make sure you know where your polling place is. You would be surprised at how many people go to the wrong precinct. Show up during the non-rush hours if you can. The slowest times are probably between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
- Check your summary screens carefully. There have been reports in Florida and Texas of summary screens presenting different candidates from the ones chosen by the voters. Furthermore, there have been reports of certain races not appearing at all in the summary screens, despite voters casting votes. Finally, there are reports of e-voting machines in Virginia truncating the names of candidates on the summary screen. If you find any discrepancy, report it immediately to the poll workers and don't leave the polls without getting to a summary screen that represents exactly how you want to vote.
- Consider yourself to be a poll watcher during you time at the polls. Be vigilant of the behavior of other voters and the poll workers. Make sure nobody is loitering around any of the equipment. Feel free to ask the poll workers about security procedures. If you see any suspicious activity, report it immediately to the chief judge in the precinct and call the local board of elections.
- Sign up for Verified Voting's Election Transparency Project. They provide a toolkit for election observation.
- Read up on the equipment used in your precinct before you vote. There is an excellent resource for that on the EFF web site.
- If you experience any problem at the polls, call the Election Protection Hotline at (866) OUR-VOTE.