MASSIVE US GET OUT THE VOTE (GOTV) EFFORT DEPLOYS THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY IN NEW AND INNOVATIVE FASHION

Technology has been embraced by many in this US presidential election, and it is being put to through rigorous on the job testing. One example is a service called Twitter Vote Report (TVR), which has been launched as a US "election protection" effort. Voters are encouraged to send reports of election conditions as they are experienced, letting others know that voting is going well or not, the length of any delays, or that a serious problem exists which requires election protection.

Reports can be submited in four ways:

1: Via Twitter: sending #votereport will call a "tweet" to the TVR's attention. TVR supports these codes:

- #[zip code] to indicate the zip code where you’re voting; ex., “#12345″
- L:[address or city] to drill down to your exact location; ex. “L:1600 Pennsylvania Avenue DC”
- #machine for machine problems; ex., “#machine broken, using prov. ballot”
- #reg for registration troubles; ex., “#reg I wasn’t on the rolls”
- #wait:[minutes] for long lines; ex., “#wait:120 and I’m coming back later”
- #early if you’re voting before November 4th
- #good or #bad to give a quick sense of your overall experience
- #EP[your state] if you have a serious problem and need help from the Election Protection coalition; ex., #EPOH

2. Via SMS, sent to 66937 (Mozes), starting the message with #votereport.

3. Via Phone: (567) 258-VOTE from a touchtone phone.

4. Via iPhone application Vote Report: the application prompts users for input, including an optional voice message.

TVR is itself an all volunteer effort supported by individuals, non-profit and for-profit organizations, including:

- Campus Progress Action;
- Common Cause;
- CREDO Mobile;
- Current;
- Demos;
- Election Protection;
- Independence Voter Foundation (iYear);
- League of Young Voters;;
- Mobilize.org;;
- Mozes;;
- NetworkRedux;
- Not an Alternative;
- NPR Community;
- Ohio Telecom Association (OTA);
- pbwiki;
- Plodt;
- Rock the Vote;
- Stop Political Phone Calls;
- Student PIRG's New Voters Project;
- TechPresident;
- Twittervission;
- Video the Vote;
- Voter Supression Wiki;
- Why Tuesday;
- Women Donors Network (WDN);
- Women's Voices Women Vote (WVWV);
- Zerion Consulting;
- Zetetic.

We tested this service, as we have tested other election-related services. Mashups such as TVR require that components provided by multiple organizations work together. TVR is a sophisticated application--or multiple applications if one considers each of the four methods by which users can submit information--and we found that some of the methods worked better than others. We tested the service by trying to send a message through each of the four methods, and found success with only one out of the four:

1. Twitter: our messages never seemed to arrive.
2. SMS: messages arrived without a problem.
3. Phone: we were immediately and automatically disconnected each time we dialed.
4. iPhone: the application hung each time we tried to send.

It is possible that the first method failed because of user error, though we don't think this is the case. We are confident that the third and fourth methods failed for reasons other than user error.

TVR reports are also supposed to be displayed on a Google map mashup, seen below. Some data appears, though it doesn't seem as though all the data is coming through or that the data is being refreshed.

Our conclusion is that this TVR service is a bit buggy and, if not for the press of time, wouldn't or shouldn't be rolled out just yet. While TVR and other election protection services are in greatest demand on election day itself, some estimate that as many as 25% of the voters have already voted and that as many as 33% will have voted before Tuesday. Fortunately, early voting means that there will be less pressure at the polls on Tuesday. However, it would be helpful to have services such as TVR available during the entire voting period, not just election day.

There is some optimism that the margins in this election will be so great that a few polling snafus here and there won't really affect the result and that there will be little need for election protection.



-Stuart Whitaker