Video the Vote
Judging from recent experience, close presidential elections tend to coincide with problems at the polls. Remember the 2000 election’s butterfly ballots and dangling chads? Or, four years later, the 10-hour lines in Knox County, Ohio? Though civil rights groups worry that history will again repeat itself this year, at least one thing will be different: what’s in our pockets. Anybody with a smartphone can now shoot video of polling irregularities and upload it to the internet. But someone must still curate all of this citizen journalism, and that’s where a group called Video the Vote comes in.
A member of a network of voting rights groups known as the Election Protection Coalition, Video the Vote wants anybody who notices voting problems to document the situation and bring the footage to its attention. “In an era of partisan voter purges, onerous ID requirements, and organized intimidation, it’s not enough for citizens to just cast their ballots,” says Matt Pascarella, Video the Vote’s campaign director. In addition to collecting citizen uploads, he’ll field a national network of his own videographers to target swing-state hotspots.
You might end up seeing some of these videos on the Mother Jones website; I’ll be embedded with Video the Vote office during much of Election Day. In addition, Mother Jones is encouraging readers to report any poll problems, voter intimidation, and vote suppression attempts you might encounter via our short Report Your Voting Problem form (available below). We’re tracking problems at our interactive map and mega-guide to election problems.
For more on how to work with Video the Vote, check out the group’s promotional video:
You can help Mother Jones track voter suppression and poll problems around the country—report your problem using this short form: