bm285 The Election Protection Wiki

With the US election upon us, there are many tools available on the internet where citizens can collectively report and monitor voting irregularities. The election protection wiki is one of these tools and on in this podcast interview Conor Kenny explains what the EPwiki is, why it exists, and what the longterm goal of the site is. We also go into detail of specific voting issues in specific parts of the United States.

epwiki.org

 

Privacy, Voting Computers, and Insanity

They actually didn’t cover the insanity part, but that just comes automatic.

I’ve never seen so many laptops in my life.

As one strolls the outside-conference environment, you may encounter the many different collectives of the Chaos Communication Congress. In this corner, with laptop and internet cable strewn everywhere, it’s the mesh network kids. Over there, below the wikimedia banner, a bunch of people are allegedly working for wikipedia. (maybe they can un-ban me, those bastards) Down the hall, its the Deck phone guys who do cool shit with phones. I can’t even get into the lockpickers, lego-robotics, RFID mapping, and solar robot creating corners. It’s all just too much. I get tired very quickly as the senses are overloaded with this creative energy that bursts from every corner.

If you come to a hacker conference.. one thing not to forget.. which I just happen to have… ethernet cable. Its important. Take that bit of wisdom with you, free-o-charge.

As the evening wound down, after a whole day of god knows what, I found myself in this room, (photo taken yesterday, tonight it was bustling with people), sitting next to Rop who just slammed home a presentation on the Dutch voting computer battle (which I covered in my podcast way back when), drinking ze beers with Catarina.. who taught me all kinds of hacker history and general communication factoids this evening. She also awarded me with a rare PRess Pass… yehaw.

All this is my excuse for not doing a podcast or a vlog tonight. Too much to tell.. too much to do.. and the night is almost over… so I’ll get on it tomorrow, at some point.

I’ve said it alot lately, but this conference is one of those things in life.. not to be missed and not likely to be forgotten.

bm168 Verona Italy and Voter Turnouts

Not the usual podjournalism as I’m on the road. This time coming to you from the riverside in Verona, Italy. The sun is setting and I talk about a little history of the city and I get into voter turnout numbers following yesterday’s Dutch elections.
Next Stop: Ljubjana, Slovenia. But first, a few hours in Venice with Madge Weinstein.

The Voter Turnout Surveys That I Sort of Refer To
dutch Elections

bm163 Other Elections Around the World

Everywhere you turn in the world of media it seems like the only election is that of the US congress next week. Yet big decisions are being made in different corners of the world, on every continent actually. This program is a brief run down of who and what is on the agenda in different elections worldwide right now. Naturally my opinion is mixed in there.. but so are the cold hard facts.

Wikipedia has a good Electoral Calendar

The Fog of Elections

I was on the phone with the great D-Rock yesterday evening. He is now working for a political campaign. He spoke a bit about the tasks he has to do… if you’ve ever heard people talk about American elections, you’ve probably heard about the phonecalls, donations, speeches, going door-to-door, etc. (do they still do that last one?)

Nevermind what I think of the whole system. Lets put that aside.

I decided to go look at what’s on the local New Jersey ballot that I’m no longer elligible to use.

Now besides the normal dry, corrupt, and uninspiring selection of candidates, you also get what are called “Public Questions”. I guess it is something like a referendum only with a different name. Here’s how they read:

  • Dedicates Annual Revenue of an Amount Equal to a Tax Rate of 0.5% under the State Sales Tax for Property Tax Reform
  • Constitutional Amendment to Expand Uses of Dedicated Tax Revenues to Fund Improvements and Facilities on Preserved Open Space Lands
  • Constitutional Amendment Changes the Dedication of Motor Fuels Tax to State Transportation System
  • Generally boring, I know. But I find number 3 to be fun; maybe they’ll further re-introduce all the train systems and light rail systems they spent the better part of the last 60 years dismantling.

    Time to go find the more interesting ballot questions around the country.