Month: February 2004

David Weinberger said something great about the allegation that online political conversations create an “echo chamber.”
Some of the time you want to talk to people who are different and learn from them. Some of the time you want to find supporters, energize supporters, and acheive a goal. You don’t have to do both things at the same time.
When you’re learning and coalition-building, it’s good talk to everyone, find and create common ground. When you’re trying to achieve the goal, you find allies, co-ordinate with them, cheer with them.

The Joe Trippi talk at Etech yesterday was disappointing. He pointed fingers. He blamed the media and the primacy cycle. He didn’t take responsibility for the disorganization in his own campaign and the lack of precinct organizing savvy that made the Dean get-out-the-vote effort less effective than Kerry. He didn’t take responsibility for communication failures and flaws. After all the candidates had taken up the anti-war message, he didn’t move on to other issues like health care and fiscal responsiblity.
It was all somebody else’s fault, none of it was the responsibility of the campaign or the candidate.
Trippi’s example of listening to the grass-roots was using a blogger’s idea about using a baseball bat as a stage prop. He was proud of the fund-raising they were able to achieve, and didn’t understand the community that the Dean campaign helped to catalyze.

1) Congress sets policy for the nation. Call/Write your congressman to support the Holt bill, HR2239 mandating a voter-verifiable paper trail at the federal level
2) In each state, the Secretary of State sets standards for the voting systems in their state. In California and Nevada, the Secretaries of State have taken the lead in requiring a voter-verifiable paper trail. The Secretary of State’s office is in charge of certifying voting machines.
Call or visit your Secretary of State. Encourage them to require a voter-verifiable paper trail at the state level. Find out about the process to certify voting machines. If it’s secret, use the press and legal system to make it not be secret.
3) Voting machines are selected and implemented in each county. Make friends with your county clerk. Understand the process that they use to implement voting. Many of them are struggling with the technology. The county-level voting system has traditionally used a lot of volunteers. If you’re a geek, your skills are needed.
4) Follow the issue at Verified Voting