How Can Nerds Make a Difference In November?

Scott Aaronson offers an intriguing call for ideas on how nerds can supercharge the political process this year. He's clearly an Obama admirer and phrases his challenge this way: "What non-obvious things can nerds who are so inclined do to help the Democrats win in November?" But the question itself is not inherently partisan. The analogy Aaronson gives is to the Nadertrading idea in 2000 (which we discussed at the time). What's the Nadertrading for 2008? "The sorts of ideas I'm looking for are ones that (1) exploit nerds' nerdiness, (2) go outside the normal channels of influence, (3) increase nerds' effective voting power by several orders of magnitude, (4) are legal, (5) target critical swing states, and (6) can be done as a hobby."

Comments

I know I know!

[longacre]

Get a programming job at Diebold.

Re:I know I know!

[Anonymous Coward]

Spam all republicans with a message saying due to voting machine problems, and to avoid overcrownding on the few working termnals, Democrats are asked to vote on tuesday and republicans on wednesday.

Re:I know I know!

[Anonymous Coward]

Close, but if you want to really fix electronic voting, there's one sure-fire way of doing it.

1. Figure out a way of rigging a vote for a believable candidate.
2. Describe exactly what you are going to do and how you are going to do it, and encrypt this document.
3. Send the encrypted document anonymously to all the media organisations you can think of in advance of the election.
4. Rig the vote.
5. After the election, send the decryption key to all the media organisations.

It's one thing to get somebody to admit the elections are riggable in theory. People don't really believe it until you show them. They still have faith in the process, or the government, or human nature. This way, you can get people to take notice without actually doing any real harm.

What you don't do is rig the election for an unbelievable candidate. That way, they immediately go into damage-control mode, make you out to be a prankster, and find some way of "retrieving" (e.g. making up) the "real" results. The point is that you wait long enough for everybody to congratulate themselves on another well-executed election, make all the acceptance speeches, etc, so they really commit themselves and can't say that they weren't utterly fooled.

Bonus points for giving up your anonymity afterwards and pointing out that you rigged the election in favour of a candidate you don't want to win.

Re:I know I know!

[Anonymous Coward]

When mentioning Diebold, it is always crucial to mention that they now call themselves Premier Election Systems, in an attempt to make people forget that they are "that" company.... you know, the one with broken and insecure voting machines.

Re:I know I know!

[Anonymous Coward]

That happened in Iowa City where I live. KCJJ (A local radio station known for their run ins with the court system) were threatened with a lawsuit for telling people on the air that republicans were being asked to vote on Wednesday to help prevent long lines at the voting places. Honestly, if you dont know what DAY you're supposed to go vote, you probably should stay home.

Re:I know I know!

[initdeep]

and if it was done the other way would you feel the same about it?

what if they had asked black people to vote on wednesday instead to prevent long lines?

a public broadcast medium making what appears to be a legitimate announcement (and yes i live in iowa and have heard their "parodies" which sound amazingly official) SHOULD be held responsible for their actions.

Just because you thought it was funny, doesn't mean it might not have disenfranchised many people.

Preventing people from casting legitimate votes, regardless of their political affiliation, race, religious background, or any other criteria covered under law, is both legally and morally irresponsible.

Re:I know I know!

[PainKilleR-CE]

Preventing people from casting legitimate votes, regardless of their political affiliation, race, religious background, or any other criteria covered under law, is both legally and morally irresponsible.

And yes, for some reason this does include being stupid enough to fall for something like this in the first place.

Re:I know I know!

[Anonymous Coward]

what if they had asked black people to vote on wednesday instead to prevent long lines?

They did

Re:I know I know!

[IDtheTarget]

Interesting idea, but I believe that this would cause a constitutional crisis, as the "winning" candidate and his/her party attempt to hang on to the presidency by "proving" that the fix didn't happen and that the encrypted message was a hoax, and the "losing" candidate and party demanding a re-vote.

As a member of the National Guard, I view this scenario with horror, as I'm one of the guys that would probably be called out to keep the peace. Not something I look upon with any enthusiasm...

Re:I know I know!

[MaliciousSmurf]

Okay. Please don't even joke about that. There was a really extreme campaign in Florida where Republicans discouraged blacks, Hispanics, and other traditionally Democratic voters from going to the polls by saying things like, "If you have any outstanding traffic tickets, pay them before voting," and, "bring proof of citizenship," (and this discouraged people who WERE legitimately citizens, because they didn't really understand and they were afraid of losing what they had worked so hard to gain), and, of course, "election day changed to Wedsnesday." Many people think that this was a big part of why the Democrats lost Florida. It's not funny, regardless of which side loses. More examples: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A99749-2001May30?language=printer http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E5D6123FF935A2575BC0A9629C8B63 Not funny, not appropriate.

Re:I know I know!

[WiseWeasel]

You do NOT want to mess with the stupid people lobby... They are a powerful group.

Re:I know I know!

[Digital End]

The enemy? For fucks sake, we're citizens of the same god damn country.

This is the cancer that is killing america

Re:I know I know!

[somersault]

Actually, I like the giant puppets concept - could be the way to go. I propose we construct a giant papier-mache Clippy god to scare people away from the voting venue. He could utter such abominable sayings as you appear to be trying to vote - would you like me to rain down burning sulphur upon you and your descendants?. I think this covers most requirements. As for the swing states, we just have to try to convince them of the merits of SWT.

Ummm .. Vote?

[OzPeter]

Or is that obvious?

Re:Ummm .. Vote?

[RealityProphet]

Good luck getting anyone to vote in this country. We've had some of the lowest rates of voter turnout of any democracy for many, many election cycles now.

For someone to do anything requires some amount of motivation on the part of that person. For voting, that would mean getting to understand the issues and know the candidates, and then to form an opinion one way or another on those issues and where the candidates stand on them. What makes you think it would be a good idea to have unmotivated people vote when they obviously have no interest and, more than likely, no understanding, of the issues involved?

Re:Ummm .. Vote?

[damn_registrars]

As long as elections in the US are a choice between fascism (Republicans) and socialism (Democrats), I will vote for NONE OF THE ABOVE by abstaining.

I would call that terrible short-sightedness. You are showing really nothing beyond total lack of concern. Have you even looked at a ballot? Ever looked at the other names that are listed?

Sure we hear almost exclusively about the candidates of the two major parties. And the third parties currently active are minor at best. But if you aren't even showing the initiative to cast a vote, then you are just allowing the system to continue un-checked.

You could do better by going and casting an empty ballot. Or even putting down your own name for president. Or Crusty the Clown or Mickey Mouse. Or even a damned ficus tree would be a better action than choosing to not vote. The two party system is defeating you when you choose to be so apathetic as to not bother going to the voting booth at all.

And if you honestly believe that there is no difference between the Democratic party and socialism, then you don't know squat about what the parties are actually proposing.

Re:Ummm .. Vote?

[barzok]

Sane with people in states where the population is not even close to evenly distributed. For example, NY. The majority of things are decided by votes cast south of Westchester. Which is a completely different world as compared to upstate.

BOTH US Senators representing New York really represent NYC and Long Island. Upstate NY has no true representation in the Senate.

Re:Ummm .. Vote?

[Kismet]

If you have ever been to vote, you may have noticed that there are other choices on the ballot. You can even write in your own preference.

If you are interested, there is the Green Party, which often appeals to disaffected Democrats.

There is the Libertarian party, which sometimes appeals to the disaffected Republicans.

The Constitution party attempts to capture the spirit of the Founding Fathers and of the intent of our Constitution, although they have swapped the Founders' positive-secularism and Deism with a decidedly Christian view. So, this party sometimes appeals to the Christian demographic.

Those are the big alternatives. Of course, there are many other political parties in America. If you want communism, socialism, fascism, capitalism, centrism, and any other manner of "ism" that humans have invented or described, there is a party for you.

I personally am not affiliated with any political party, although I find virtues in all of the major parties (and also ideas that I do not agree with). But this does not prevent me from voting.

So, get involved. Ignore what people tell you about "throwing away your vote" or "as good as a vote for the bad guy." Vote for what you think is best.

Simple..

[houbou]

I'm Canadian, but I do hope Obama wins, In the recent weeks, I've been working on getting work in the US, I think it would be nice to expand my computer consulting horizons. As I've been following US politics for the last 10 yrs, I do think Obama is indeed going to be a great president. I would consider moving to the US if a president like Obama was elected!

But really, the problem with Obama, like anything else, are the myths propagated by others, or the misinformation about him. I say that anyone who wishes to help Obama (nerds included), only need to ensure that the facts are made clear to anyone willing to listen.

Nerds and the web, can obviously create ads for Obama such as "did you know" blurbs on their websites for example.

It's not about tricking people into voting for Obama, but about ensuring he's clearly understood by people. So, anyone who can clearly explain who Obama is, what he stands for and most of all, get his message across, is obviously going to help!

How is that NOT Partisan?!

[eldavojohn]

"What non-obvious things can nerds who are so inclined do to help the Democrats win in November?" But the question itself is not inherently partisan.

You and I seem to have different ideas of what 'partisan' means.

Honestly, the best thing a nerd can do during an election is spread information. Not slanted information but stuff like the folks over at factcheck.org are doing. Another thing is discussing various differences in the voting process like trying to build a grassroots movement to move back to the popular vote or opening up discussions on runoff voting. There's plenty of ways to inform the public, possibly the most important and least rewarded job--in my mind anyhow. I find it humorous when Democrat workers go around alienating Republican voters and vice versa.

If you approach me with the mindset that I need to be voting for your candidate I'm probably not going to react well to it.

Vote third party

[megamerican]

If you want to stop voting for the lesser of two evils, stop voting for the flawed two-party system. Simply vote third party to show that you want to be involved but hate the choices given to us by the corporate controlled parties.

It doesn't matter if you vote for Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader or Alan Keyes.

People need to start demanding that these 3rd party candidates get air time and in the debates. I'm really hoping that google or someone else has a debate with some of these candidates.

The best thing you can do to make real change and a difference is to take over your local government and work up. Get some friends and like minded people and start running for city council, judges, etc....

Re:Vote third party

[tlacuache]

Exactly. As a conservative, I'm at the opposite end of the political spectrum from most Slashdotters on a lot of issues (although I agree with most of you on issues with technological implications such as net neutrality, privacy, that sort of thing). It's true, I hate the Democratic party with a passion. But over the last four years I've come to hate the Republican party just as much. It's the system that's messed up. We don't have real representation any more. I won't be voting for Obama because I disagree with almost every single policy he has, but I don't trust McCain either. I haven't exactly decided on who yet, but I'll be voting 3rd party this November.

There's actually two

[Chmcginn]

Close, but if you want to really fix electronic voting, there's one sure-fire way of doing it.

The other one is an EMP blast.

Be realistic and grow the fuck up

[mlwmohawk]

Sorry, I'm just pissed off at the micro-issue morons. Gun control, telco immunity, abortion rights, etc. These "micro-issues' distract from the whole.

You aren't going to EVER get someone with whom you agree with 100% all the time unless its you.

Weigh the pros and cons of the two candidates, CAREFULLY, and think about who will best serve the country as a whole. Weigh the VP choice as well, McCain is old enough to die or become incapacitated and Obama is black, I can imagine the KKK or some white supremacy group trying to off him ASAP. Those guys are scary crazy, if you think islamic terrorists are crazy, you haven't seen the KKK. They'll kill a black man with no remorse, they enjoy it. (It isn't a racist troll and don't tell me you haven't heard it before. I'm just an engineer looking at the potential issues.)

Third party? Don't be an idiot. A third party will not get elected in this cycle, maybe we can work for a viable third party over time, but not now.

This election is IMPORTANT. Don't screw around and take your citizenship and right to vote seriously. Vote for the best all around package, knowing full well that there are no perfect people, and they will disagree with you on various issues, but *mostly* represent you.

As for the micro-issues:

Telco immunity. Think about this, yea, they should have been nailed to the wall, but they WERE ordered by the government to do something. It is hard to resist being compelled like that. The real prosecution should be against BushCo. If a cop told you to help him, you'd feel compelled to help. If it is illegal, the cop is responsible, not you.

RIAA, well that's the courts and congress. We need to fight it there.

Re: voting and motivation

[gad_zuki!]

Eight years ago your post would be: "These two candidates are the same guy! I'm voting for Nader!"

Do you honestly thing Gore would have run things just like Bush?

Now, do you honestly thing McCain would run things just like Obama?

Enough with the protest voting, we should mobilize people and teach them to vote for their best interests, not teaching them to be cynical and become protest voters.

Re:Faking Christianity.

[stoolpigeon]

Yep - all of them. Every person in the country who labels themselves Christian is a simplistic idiot that can't understand even the most basic of things. Thank God I have an atheist friend to log into slashdot for me, interpret my grunt-like muttering and type up responses on my behalf. Gotta go back to putting down the women and colored folk now.

People who always say "both candidates are evil"

[glassware]

Every year, when we get close to the election, tons of people come out of the woodwork and say, "Both candidates are evil, I've lost my will to vote, I'll vote third party. Why can't they ever nominate someone good?"

If you recall, tons of people said "Both Al Gore and George Bush are lame politicians" in 1999. Many of those people didn't vote. And simply because Al Gore seemed dull, we lost out on the chance to have a politician who really cared about environmental issues and who would have applied some moderation to the response to terrorism instead of going cowboy.

The trouble is, people, in general, are flawed. The sheer number of decisions a person has to make each and every day means that some of them will be wrong. It's simply not possible to find "a good candidate," because every human being has made a mistake in the past. Part of the reason Senators don't usually become Presidents is that they have a solid, visible voting record and lots of conflicting demands on their votes, so that anyone can point to and say "Haha! This one decision was wrong! You can't be trusted!" By contrast, Governors and Generals seem to have less visible records, so people can't play the "gotcha" game as often.

Please stop thinking that an election is a chance to find a perfect person and vote for him or her. That's not the way elections work; if you keep waiting for a perfect candidate you'll never vote. Elections work by presenting you with candidates, and you get to judge which of them you think will do the best job.

I'll confess this: in 1999, I listened to the candidates and decided that I would be a John McCain supporter. I decided to support him because I looked at Bill Bradley, Al Gore, George Bush, and him, and I decided McCain seemed like the best leader. Unfortunately, after the election, everything I learned about McCain gradually turned negative and everything I learned about Al Gore reinforced his solid reputation. In this campaign, I know a little about Obama and (I think) a fair amount about McCain. Both of them have had to abandon their key supporters to reach across the aisle and compromise with others, but I find McCain's decisions more wrong than Obama's.

Obama showed great courage not backing a junkie's-quick-fix approach to gasoline prices.
McCain supports creationism / intelligent design in schools.
McCain sponsored an amendment to ban torture, and then meekly backed away when George Bush announced that he'd ignore the law.

I'm voting for Obama. I may not agree with everything he does, but I think he's the best person to repair the damage that Bush has done to our country.

Hear hear!

[Anonymous Meoward]

The 2000 election was decided by less than 600 votes in Florida. About 90,000 Floridians voted for Nader that year. If only 1% of those Nader voters could see what the future held.

Seriously. Don't vote for the candidate who merely claims to serve your interests. Vote for the one who will lay the cultural groundwork for the change you wish to see in your country.

It's up to you to be that change, regardless of who wins.