Submitted by Micky Hingorani on Fri, 11/03/2006 - 11:45am
With only four more days until Americans make their yearly trek to the polls, its hard not to think about what it means to be a citizen, and what political participation really looks like in America - both historically and practically. Here are some items I've been enjoying as I try to grapple with that problem.
A new poll by the Harvard Institute of Politics (pdf) suggests that, on Tuesday, young voters will shatter previous turnout records for midterm elections. The poll - which has an incredible sample size of over 2,500 18-24 year olds (half on and half off the "college track") - concludes that turnout could be as high as 32%. The previous record was 27% set in 1982.
The gang at Radio Open Source just finished a show about "Experiments in Democracy" with Lani Guinier. The show explored the question of what participation looks like in America and in other democracies, and how we can truly make our electoral system more representative of the voices of the people it is meant to serve. Listen to the show. (24mb mp3)
A rash of stories about Diebold machines are leaking into the media. Problems are yet again arising with these machines, and the blogosphere is awash in conspiracy theories. HBO is currently airing a documentary on the machines - Hacking Democracy - which premiered last night.
A citizen journalism outfit - the Polling Place Photo Project - is asking folks to take a picture of their polling place and submit it to the project. PPPP hopes to create a record of the voting experience in America in 2006.
In a more activist vein, I'll point people yet again to Video the Vote - a project that seeks to document and minimize irregularities in Tuesday's voting process. If you've got some time on Tuesday and want to help safe-guard our democracy, this non-partisan group is looking for volunteers for a variety of tasks from filming sites, manning the phones or shuttling film crews in your car.
Finally, conservatives like to fear-monger about immigrants voting illegally. Its the purported rationale behind many of the stringent voter ID laws they are trying to pass in the states. So allow me to relish in a moment's worth of Schadenfreude as I introduce you to the new face of voter fraud.
