HELP! Organizing the DU VOTING WORK CREW

[regularjoe]

If you care about investigating vote fraud/error please read!

We NEED a separate website to keep track of which data (voter registration, exit polls, results) has been collected and which needs to be collected, which data needs to be analyzed and which is finished, instructions on how to analyze it, finished reports to be distributed, the works. I know people are trying to get this to happen on DU but it is so difficult to figure out what is going on because the threads get filled up with a MILLION messages and reading through them to make sure you aren't doing work that is already finished is long and tedious. With a separate website and someone with a bit a time on their hands we could organize the work and match people with jobs the do best. I would bet there are loads a people who want to do something and have time to donate but don't know what to do and things are too scrambled for them right now (I'm one of them).

I already know that blackboxvoting.org has a cleanup crew but I have been trying to get something going there for about 2 WEEKS and it isn't working. The deal is that Bev is too busy in Florida finding the fraud to organize volunteers to do analysis and she hasn't delegated enough to put the sudden legions of volunteers to work. I've sent her loads of emails about this but I haven't received a reply from her.

So...If you have some webspace or webskills or something and could set up an area for a little organization and a place for finished work to be distributed it would make a huge difference. I wanted to contact some people about this individually (Chili, because you have a great site, and althecat because you have been leading the way at DU) but I don't have enough posts to PM so I'm trapped. (If you do have enough posts please send them a link to this thread so they will read it.)

Anyway, please help if you can. There is a lot of potential out there that is desperate for clear guidance.

regularjoe

P.S. Please kick this until we find a solution.

[kimax2]

1. i'm in

don't know how, where, what or when, but tell me what to do with my crazy spreadsheet tabulation skills and i'm there, then and at it...

[newyawker99]

13. Hi kimax2!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. RegularJoe

I appreciate your efforts, but from my experiences of working in community projects, I've learned that it pays to know who is in your crew. What I discovered was that if you have anyone who is "on the other side," your project will eventually get sabotaged or co-opted and herded into a box canyon.

My suggestion to any Dem that takes this thread seriously, is to find a way to confirm that your "crew" is loyal to the cause.

[regularjoe]

5. I don't see how it would be much different than

it is now except that it would be easier to get something done. I also don't see how most people could sabotage it, they would either help complete tasks, or they wouldn't. However, I'm open to suggestions.

regularjoe

[JD Lau]

3. I agree. If the final result is to be some kind of

sustained organization it would be nice to have info somewhere and a focused effort.

I have webspace and basic webskills. My time is marginal, but I could offer to upload data, provide a space to post info, organize info. And I could probably make hard copies(or at least put something on floppy).

Just let me know if you want any more help with this.

JD

[noamnety]

4. I could maybe do it

I could add a section to this:
http://ideamouth.com/respect.htm

You want basically a large table or set of tables of tasks done and tasks needing to be done, right? I'm not doing anything fancy there, but I can get the information together.

[hnsez]

6. You can have my webspace completely

www.amvotes.com

its not in use now

[mom cat]

7. I here your frustration with trying to volunteer at Bev's site she is

swamped. I don't know about another web site. You would have to checl that out with Al or Hedda. I am just a lower mid-level grunt who is trying to get some organization going here. Stay in touch and let me know what you want to do most.

[Blue in the face]

8. Can DU make a forum just for stats, graphs and facts?

Although I do like the idea of separate websites, though, since it looks like the hackers didn't just stop working after the Election.

[mom cat]

12. Good idea. I think, however, that we will be breaking the tech/stat work

into pieces when our tech/stat reorganization is up and running.

[regularjoe]

11. I sent a PM to althecat but he hasn't replied yet.

If you are in contact with althecat maybe you could mention this thread.

regularjoe

[Helga Scow Stern]

9. Please volunteer here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x54054

There is a link for a task thread there as well as a task discussion thread. But follow the instructions on the above link.

[Pooka Fey]

10. kick

[regularjoe]

14. Kick

[truehawk]

15. Kick

[truehawk]

16. I agree we need a place to put our data.

The Republicans are protesting 10,000 provisional ballots in SC

[terip64]

17. kick

[Baja Margie]

18. kick

[Oak2004]

19. Try my site

http://www.americanresistance.info/main

That's exactly what I've been configuring it for.

There is also a private area for persons who need to discuss matters out of the field of view of our dear friend Karl and his band of freepers.

PM or e-mail me if you need anything.

[Eloriel]

21. That's great --

Please PM mom cat and althecat, tell them it was my suggestion that you do so, and ask them to take a look with your offer.

I think the main organizing needs to be done here, but there is NO doubt in my mind we could make very good use of what you offer. Thanks so much!!

[regularjoe]

22. Eloriel, I disagree

These forums are too scrambled for most of it to be done here. That was my point from the beginning.

Here is what I imagine:
:)
1) A collection of all analysis completed thus far with a little quality control to make sure the sources of info are cited.
:)
2) A collection of all raw data avaiable in an organized form (folders or something, not just millions of messages at the same level in a thread). This would include voter registration totals, exit poll data, election results, results after recounts, and more that I haven't thought of. Not all info is readily available on the internet. I tried to find voter registration data for Florida from 1980 to 1992 and I had to email each county in Florida to get it because the Secretary of State's office told me they don't have that data.
:)
3) Clear goals for further analysis, such as a list of the states we want to look at. We also need to decide what we are analyzing. The following questions will help you see why this is necessary:

Do we analyze election results vs. exit polls? If so, which time should we choose for the exit poll data. Should we analyze election results vs. voter registration? If so, should we look at past elections (YES, to determine the validity of the dixiecrat theory)? If so, how many past elections should we include? Should we include only presidential elections or all general elections for a time period? What graphical forms would be best for expressing the data? What statisical techniques should we use? Should we look at the state level, the county level, the precint level?
:)
4) I like the grass roots thing but someone needs to be in charge of simply sorting through all the information that is thrown at us and posting the good and getting rid of the duplicates. Collecting and analyzing data are the biggest projects IMO and we need a single central place to know what the heck is going on.
:)
5) Once reports are complete and they have been checked for credibility we can encourage people to distribute them.

We seriously could accomplish SO MUCH MORE with a little quality control and a CENTRAL LOCALATION for this with DECENT ORGANIZATION. Please don't turn down this opportunity.

regularjoe

[straw_citizen]

20. kick

[snot]

23. Kick

[althecat]

24. I understand what you want.. but I do not think it will work unfortunately

Sorry for being so late to check in here. I have been flat out with Scoop things today. I haven't even been able to read the new Berkeley report yet... this is taking precedence :)

As I explained in the Clubhouse thread to Greenmutha in this post:

It is because of the energy of these forums that they are so useful. You would be amazed at how difficult it usually is to find a bunch of people to do something together online. What we have accomplished here in just one week is astonishing.

Ultimately I think it is a criticial mass problem.

In the past there have been several attempts to provide external Vote Fraud only forums on other websites. And there are countless resource sites out there already.

BBV.org
Countthevote.org
Verifiedvoting.org
& The ballot integrity project all have forums.

But inevitably everybody comes back here. Even Bev. Why? I don't know but I think because they find it lonely in these other places - people congregate where the people are.

Speaking for myself while some aspects of DU are frustrating, they are hugely outweighted by the positive. Now we have this VOting Issues forum and the other one I am finding it easier to do stuff here than ever before. Even old threads are only on page 3 in this forum. In the bad old days all we had was GD and then it really was a bit of a madhouse.

The second question is could we manage this with some off DU resource pages.

The answer is yes we probably could. But would people go there? My experience of net usage patterns is that no matter how much you promote or instruct people to go to this site or that they don't. They either misread the instruction or don't read to the end (how many people have got this far in this post?). Therefore the best approach is to KISS (keep it simple stupid) and for me the simplest and best option is this forum for organising. Allied with the PResidential Results forum for presenting an critiqueing work.

THAT SAID..

Nobody is in charge around here and if people want to try and set up external sites to help coordinate things I will not discourage them and will even help to promote them. I am just not confident they will necessarily work.

Finally.. whatever we do in the medium term we do need some new task threads now to make things easier for people to find what's going on. Mom Cat has kindly come up with a nice new schematic which I will implement barring some kind and experienced DUer offering their skills to do so. (having done it already twice I think I may have it down pat mind.)

al

[truehawk]

25. kick