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Week of 11.3.06
'Video the Vote' Movement Gains MomentumThis Week:
About the Show |
'Video the Vote' Movement Gains Momentum |
Vets for Congress |
Transcript
A new movement is urging citizens to film their local polling places on Election Day to expose any problems or irregularities in some of the country's tightest races.Documentary filmmaker Ian Inaba's "Video the Vote" campaign has recruited hundreds of volunteers to help film elections in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
The campaign, in partnership with other political organizations, is targeting states where he says the problems are most likely to occur due to new election reforms and voting technologies. The group is calling on volunteers to watch out for and document long lines, machine breakdowns and other events that could compromise the elections.Inaba, whose film "American Blackout" alleges disfranchisement of black voters in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, is hoping to fill the gap he sees in mainstream news coverage. "Media companies are focusing on the candidates and the outcome of the election; they want to 'call' the election ... the stories should be about the voters, not the candidates," Inaba told NOW. James Rucker, Executive Director of Colorofchange.org Charitable Fund, who is managing the online operations of the campaign, says response to the group's call has been tremendous. "From all across the country we have had volunteers who are concerned with the upcoming elections and have now found a way to get involved," he said. "Video the Vote" plans to monitor calls from an election protection hotline and dispatch scouts and videographers as needed to problem sites. The videos will then be immediately broadcast online and alerts will be sent to bloggers and reporters. Another new citizen media project that is urging people to document next week's election is NewAssignment.net. It calls on voters to photograph their polling places and "document democracy." Related Links: NOW: Down for the Count - The up and down sides of new electronic voting machines. NOW: Block the Vote - Will new laws supposedly designed to prevent voter fraud and election-day debacles, disenfranchise certain voters? NewAssignment.net Video the Vote Video the Vote on YouTube |
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