Robocalls and Election Monitoring -- in the US (but what about something in CanadaÉ

[michael gurstein]

I think doing this in Canada might be a very good initiative and there is sufficient time to get it organized before the next election.

 

I know Archon Fung (others may as well) and I would guess that he would be willing to collaborate with a Canadian group on this if one were to develop.

 

Thoughts, suggestions, volunteers.

 

M

 

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of David Johnson
Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 12:19 PM
To: liberationtech
Subject: Re: [liberationtech] robocalls to voters regarding voter picture IDs and Wednesday voting in MA

 

Speaking of voting problems, Harvard's Archon Fung has started a crowd-sourcing project like Ushahidi to collect information for election monitoring.

 

Check out MyFairElection.com

And check out our interview with him for more details ...

 

http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.6/archon_fung_my_fair_election.php

 

Best wishes,

 

David

On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 11:38 AM, Shava Nerad <[hidden email]> wrote:

I just sent this to my secretary of the commonwealth (secy of state) and election commission, and blogged it encouraging others to do the same:

 

====

 

I have heard reports in the media of voters receiving "robocalls" that they would be required to produce photo IDs at the polls (false) and that the storm pushed voting to Wednesday (also false).  The caller ID on these calls was blocked, not surprisingly.

 

I am a longtime resident in Massachusetts, having spent most of my adult life here, from 1978-1989 and 2004 to now.  I live in Salem now, but spent most of that time in the Cambridge/Somerville area, and have been active in community causes through nonprofit and political channels my whole life, including when I was in my long wanderyahr away, Democratic State Committee in Oregon and Chair of Budget and Finance for Multnomah County (Portland OR).

 

I'm also a telecommunications expert, having gotten my start on the Internet in 1982 at DEC on 128.

 

It doesn't matter if these people blocked their caller ID.  This is voter fraud and intimidation -- and a felony.  If you can find people that received these calls -- and you should be able to easily through social media -- you should be able to go to their phone provider and find out easily under warrant who placed these phone calls to them.

 

They are criminally liable and should be taken to court and exposed in the press for their acts -- and as a deterrent to anyone who feels that they can use this technology for such acts in future elections.

 

It's VITAL that you not only follow up on this, but that you make a public statement IMMEDIATELY saying that this is possible and that you are following up to deter copycat crimes over the next few days throughout the country.

 

I'm publishing this letter in my blog as a model for other politicos and journalists.

 

Most sincerely,

-- 

 

Feel free to adapt and use and distribute.

 

 

yrs,

--

 

Shava Nerad

[hidden email]

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David V. Johnson
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Boston Review
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